


Love Potion No. 5

by K_Lionheart



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, and it's hilarious, basically it's a love potion au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:59:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8459221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K_Lionheart/pseuds/K_Lionheart
Summary: "Okay so the whole point of it is to spray it into the face of someone--say a Galra militant--and they would immediately be overcome with happy feelings...I guess? I mean, it would be a lot better for us to enter a base and make friends with everyone instead of the threat of dying, right? Anyway, Coran's been helping me with it but there're just a few issues with it. And well, to my defense, I did tell him that adding an artificial dye would make it much easier to identify--""Pidge, get to the point.""--Long story short, Keith drank it and now he won't stop trying to freaking kiss me. Could you... could you please just help me?"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is fun fun crack lol enjoy

_Data mining complete: Results are UNSTABLE_

Yet another night of running diagnostics and Pidge was running out of sighs to give the consistent reports from her computer. The glow of the laptop bounced off eerily from her spectacles and from an outsider's point of view one could suppose she was fulfilling stereotypical images of mad scientists and defeat-rugged geniuses. Inwardly, Pidge was bored out of her mind. And it was starting to show. A gentle knock on the other side of her table jerked a swift response from Pidge, causing mutual cries of surprise from both her and her unknown guest.

"Jeez!" Pidge hissed, glaring up at the solid figure of none-other-than Hunk. "Could you not sneak up on me?"

"I didn't sneak up on you!" Hunk protested, motioning wildly to the table. "I knocked! What sort of ninja knocks?"

Pidge rolled her eyes, drawing up a small smile at him. "What's up?"

"Well, I figured you've forgotten to eat," Hunk said, pulling up a container of delicately arranged food goo and a spork. Pidge's mouth watered instantly. She didn't have to reach for very long. Hunk deposited the plastic-like box in her hands and allowed her the pleasure of opening it up. As expected, Pidge jumped headfirst into it. "Lucky for you, I've made enough for both you and me to enjoy seconds."

"How'd you make it taste like potatoes and cheese?" Pidge would've said had her mouth not been filled with food goo. Hunk grinned anyway, nodding wisely.

"Chef's secret," he said, puffing his chest out proudly. "How's it going with the 'secret project' thing? Any results?"

"Ugh," Pidge groaned, swallowing down a bite of goo, flicking her spork at the screen and the blinking blue results. "I've been running diagnostics for forever. Whatever it is Coran's cooking, it's not compatible with the other bits of data he sent me. I mean, I've done some digging and compared the elements he's testing to chemicals commonly found on earth and there's a few that match the typical chemicals that cause general feelings of happiness..."

"No kidding?"

"Yeah," Pidge set her food aside, sucking some grease from her index finger. With a quick swipe over Hunk's jacket (Hunk huffed indignantly), she flicked her fingers over the screen and pressed a button. A hologram of the data flickered over the air, several windows of the latest results and their data appeared overhead. Pidge motioned toward a particular window where a graph of comparisons connected information and correlated them. "Here's the typical data of dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin... you see what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah, okay."

"And here's the sample that Coran gave me. The make-up is practically the same with just a few differences in concentration. The connections don't stop there, there are other connections to chemical compounds found on earth and the similarities continue."

"Fascinating," Hunk said, scratching his chin. "I mean, I'm not surprised. Makes sense, so what's the deal?"

Pidge let out a huff and sat back on her chair, reaching up to rub greasy fingers into her wild hair. "Well, it's just Coran wants me to run some numbers. He wants me to find a way to combine some of these elements in a way that balances out. But the majority of the results I get end up being unstable. I mean, I wish I had the equipment to really narrow down exactly what's in these foreign samples because the similarities don't exactly mean they are identical."

"Uh huh."

"So despite how I try to basically mix these together, they just...do not," Pidge flopped back on her chair, sighing through her nose and snatching her food back over her lap. "I wish Coran could just give me a little more information, but no. All I get is, "Just do your best and see what you can put togetha'!'" Hunk snickered at Pidge's attempt at mimicking Coran's accent. "...and that's not exactly the sort of instruction I can use to work with."

"Did he tell you anything else about it?" Hunk asked after a while.

Pidge gave him a half shrug, "Yeah... what this is for. I can't exactly say what it is now... it's kind of a rough idea and he made me promise not to say until I can get enough information. I just don't know what he's waiting for. Anyway, I set up a program based on few algorithms that will run the numbers on their own until we're able to find a better match. Think you can give it a look?"

"Give me numbers, any day." Hunk cracked his knuckles, gazing at the information around them with a hungry gleam and a calculating smile. "In the meanwhile, you should get some sleep."

"Nah, I'm fine," Pidge said, rubbing her eyes and chewing slowly. "I can stick around."

"Dude, relax. I'm not gonna go peering at the secret stuff. Go take a nap or something. Pretty sure it was lights' out like three hours ago."

Pidge hummed in response and glanced over at Hunk, who was already opening a new command prompt and typing commands and algorithms with finesse. She sighed again and stood to her feet. "Alright, I have been feeling a little cross-eyed lately. I'll go walk around for a bit. Where's everyone else?"

"Lance is probably sleeping, or messing with Blue's systems again." Hunk said over his shoulder as Pidge began to stretch her arms and legs. "Shiro and Allura are still working the castle's long-distance scanner, last I checked... unless by everyone else you just meant Keith."

Pidge's movements stopped short. She rose up, fixing Hunk a sturdy glare. "Very funny."

"Hey, if you want to talk to him, you should just go talk to him. He's been hanging off my shoulder like a worried kitty-cat. 'Is she still mad at me, does she hate me now,'" Hunk mimicked Keith's voice whilst placing his hand over his forehead, in lieu of drama. "Just go talk to him and get him back to normal, is all I'm saying."

"He did not say that," Pidge snorted, shaking her head. "Also I'm not mad at him."

"The cold shoulder says otherwise."

"I do that with everybody," Pidge said loftily. 

"Mm-hm," Hunk didn't sound convinced. "Right..."

"Agh!" Pidge griped, whirling around to scowl firmly at Hunk. "Okay, so I'm a little pissed, can you blame me? He nearly killed himself trying to 'save me' and I lost one of the biggest leads on finding my family I've had since the spaced battle three years ago. Like, I get it, it wasn't his fault, he was just doing his stupid job as my partner... just..."

A pause filled the air where the sound of Hunk's fingers still typing diligently didn't. Pidge groaned. "Am I being too hard on him?"

"I think that's something you already know the answer to, Katie," Hunk said gently. "He's still on the training deck if you wanna do something about it."

Pidge's lips pursed in a petulant pout, but Hunk had turned his full attention to the system before him.

"How long has he been there...?"

"Almost as long as you've been here."

She let out a soft noise of annoyance before she turned and walked off.

* * *

 

Pidge didn't get very far before Coran whirled around a corner and proceeded to scare her half to death by shouting her name.

"PIDGE!"

Pidge shouted, nearly tripping over her own feet before being spun around by Coran's gloved hands. "Coran, we've  _talked_ about this--"

Coran looked positively gleeful as he swept Pidge's still-smaller figure under an arm. "You're just the person I'm looking for actually! I want to let you know that our little project is progressing at a marvelous rate! I've already got serums prepped for testing!"

"Can it wait?" Pidge attempted to dislodge herself from Coran's incessant cheer. "I was just about to--wait,  _what?"_ Pidge gawked, "You have serums?!"

"Oh yes!" Coran nodded, plucking at his mustache with a grin. "I know I had you running numbers for possible mixes, but considering the nature of the samples I had to do some immediate trial-and-error testing. See what we could come up with."

Pidge blinked, reeling. She jabbed her elbow against Coran, prompting him to drop her, yet his excited pace never abated. Pidge had to jog to catch up, her hair bouncing against her shoulders. "Coran, you had me running diagnostics for three days straight. I didn't exactly sleep either while I was working on the programs to run the numbers and give us a desirable outcome. I get we're on a timetable, but you should've at least told me before jumping straight into chemical testing! We don't exactly know how some of these elements mix together!"

"Oh pish-posh," Coran waved a flippant hand, smiling despite the apparent aggravation staining a deep scowl over Pidge's face. "I don't exactly blame you for not recognizing a lot of these samples. But where you've got your small, yet significant (but not as significant) intellect, I've got plenty of experience dealing with stuff like this!"

Pidge's eyebrow gave a twitch and she pinched her nose to fight off an incoming stress headache. "So... let me get this straight, you were going to proceed with testing despite what results I was going to end up getting?"

Coran pursed his lips thoughtfully before resuming his cheerful smiling, "Well, if you put it that way it does sound like I've been willfully wasting your time!"

"Who would've thought," Pidge grumbled heatedly.

Coran let out an amused chuckle, one that may have also had a little bit of guilt sewn in if Pidge was hopeful. "Not to worry! I actually have no doubt you'll come through with the information. I believe tackling a problem from all sides can yield interesting results from time to time!"

Pidge sighed and rolled her eyes, muttering every so often under her breath.

"By the way... when was the last time you bathed?"

" _Coran_ , you are literally the last person who can talk to me about that right now."

"...noted."

Pidge crossed her arms when they stopped at the lab's doors, waiting with narrowed eyes as Coran pressed his hand to the door's palm reader. The door opened with a hiss and they filed in without a word. Pidge's eyes instantly fell over the large arrangement of vials and test tubes that curled and hovered over slim metallic tables and test tablets. A stone of sheepishness filled her stomach for that moment when she realized that Coran had done some very thorough work while she was busy with figuring out data.  _It wouldn't be the first time you've flown off the handle at someone._

The image of Keith's sullen expression flashed over her mind and filled her chest with a frigid sort of pain. Pidge bit down on her cheek and shoved the cold feeling aside. She walked further in the lab, focusing on the many vials filled with curiously filled liquid that shimmered like soap and oil.

"Weird," she mused, leaning down to study a particular vial that looked like a deep lavender color. "Is this...?"

"Galra blood," Coran replied, busying himself by gathering a few materials from a nearby table. Pidge took an instinctive step back. "Or a sample of it anyway. It's a little old, so I'm not entirely sure how much we can trust that to give us the ideal response. Considering the ten thousand years of time since."

Pidge rubbed her chin with a hand, "I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say we're probably going to have to get that sample somehow, aren't we?"

"Nope!" Coran said cheerily, lifting a new vial of galra blood. It appeared more viscous and a shade deeper in color. "Sendak's been more than helpful since we last met!"

Pidge perked up, stepping close and adjusting her glasses to peer at the sample when she spotted a different sample out of the corner of her eyes. The liquid was a deep crimson color, and Pidge's eyebrows shot up. "I don't recall you getting a sample of our blood."

Coran blinked curiously before turning to face the sample she pointed at. "Oh, that? That, believe it or not, is Altean blood."

"Really?" Pidge moved closer to the blood sample, grabbing the flask with a glimmer of fascination in her eyes. "Huh, I would've never noticed the difference between this and human blood."

"Despite our location in the universe, we're not all that different," Coran said with a smile. "The laws of nature apply to every creature, and it just so happens that we share a lot in common with your species. Now, as fun as this might be contemplating the intergalactic similarities we may have, we have tests to run."

Pidge set the flask down where she saw it, stepping next to Coran as he led her toward the main table where the experiment was taking place. "I've been able to procure a few testing serums, now naturally, we'd need a few live specimens--" 

"Already?" Pidge interjected with a scoff. "We don't have the appropriate information to make safe testing on live subjects, Coran."

"For now," Coran replied. "However, I believe I've been able to engineer a safe serum for a pre-test of sorts!" He pulled up a long tube filled with a clear liquid. Pidge arched a brow.

"And who do you intend to use for the pre-test?"

Coran's lips pulled into a sly grin, "You up for a mouse hunt?"

* * *

 " _Training sequence level 8 complete. Countdown to level 9 initiated. Proceed?"_

Keith wiped beads of sweat from his forehead, hands on his knees while his bayard rested on the other side of the training deck. His latest success had left him spinning in the air and throwing his sword into the training robot's head. It's body now long since disappeared leaving him to contemplate falling on his back to rest. After a moment, he straightened with effort and headed across the deck to swipe his sword from the ground. 

"De-activate," Keith called and the countdown ended. The low humming sound of the machine at work slowed until there was silence and Keith's heavy breathing. He swallowed, tonguing the inside of his mouth and finding it uncomfortably dry.

"Hey," Keith called, knowing the system was always listening to respond. "What time is it? Earth time..."

" _Time zone?"_

"Common."

" _three fifty-eight in the morning. The date is November 23--"_

"Okay, thanks," Keith called and the computer went silent. Keith turned his attention toward his surroundings, searching for a black and red canteen he swore he had brought with him. "Where..." 

A flicker of realization dawned over Keith leaving him to roll his eyes and sigh with exasperation. "I left my canteen back in my room, didn't I?"

" _Yes."_

"Okay, not talking to you, thanks!" Keith shouted at the system. He gave a sigh after that and placed his bayard against his hip. Despite the lack of his uniform, the weapon held firm against his pants and belt. Keith gave it a quick pat, as though thanking a good pet for being obedient before he decided on his next move. His eyes turned toward the door that was closest the kitchen. Maybe a late night snack before bed along with a drink? Chances are Hunk would be the person he'd bump into if the cuddly giant wasn't already in bed. Aside from him...

Keith shook his head and turned around, feeling crestfallen despite himself. A surge of bitterness followed every time his mind conjured up the image of Pidge's face, staring up at him with a fierce anger and look of betrayal. He'd long since given up trying to argue his point across with her. There were so many times he could take shouting at a door that didn't open no matter what he said. He had gotten angry a few times, tried to corner Pidge to just talk. Instead, she had shown an incredible ability in maneuvering away from him despite all the planning he did to find her alone. There was always someone who intervened at the wrong time, and she was clever in using the vents to escape.

Keith knew he could be persistent when he wanted to, but even he knew better than to persist when the answer was clearly  _no._

Eventually, he had to get used to dealing with her silent treatment when they were in the castle. He had hoped that fulfilling a few missions after that particular disaster would get her to trust in him again, at least enough for them to work together. Pidge, as it happened, knew exactly when to set petty differences aside for the good of the mission. The problem was that as soon as it was all over and their Lions were all back in their bays, she'd suddenly turn and ignore him all over again. It was driving him unnaturally crazy.

There wasn't a night he didn't think of her, and it was starting to worry at the frequency in which she had started appearing in his day-to-day thoughts.

Shiro was no good in fixing things and Lance and Hunk only succeeded in making things worse. Luckily, Allura hadn't done an intervention like she had once declared (thank Shiro for talking her down). The tension wasn't doing them any good... though, he hadn't been pretty proud of himself for using that and the 'ruining teamwork' card a few times he had gotten in over his head.

Keith's feet carried him down the gently lit halls and toward their bunkspaces, hoping and dreading the chance of bumping into her. He turned a corner and, sure enough, did collide with another person. "Ow!"

Keith rubbed his nose, blinking up to spot Lance rubbing his forehead. Keith's mood soured almost instantly and judging by Lance's not-so-pleased expression the feeling was mutual.

"What are you still doing up?" Lance, ever the suave one, asked bluntly and didn't bother giving him time to respond. "Nope, never mind. Judging by the stink, I'd say you were in the training deck."

"Excellent deduction, Sherlock," Keith ground out and clicked his tongue against his teeth. "I don't have to ask to know you were probably trying to catch Allura star-bathing again."

"That was  _one_ time!" Lance shot back. "And for the record, I'm over Allura so you can save any other quips you have about that and stuff it."

"Congratulations," Keith rolled his eyes and made to walk past him. To his surprise, Lance turned and followed. "You gonna follow me to the shower, too?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Lance replied. "It's about Pidge."

"Pass."

"Hey," Lance's hand gripped to Keith's shoulder, whirling him around. "I'm not going to lecture you or anything, so chill. Could you just bear with me for a bit?"

Keith shifted his weight on his heels with a sigh and crossed his arms, "I swear to God, Lance if you try to tell me I need to get in touch with my feelings--"

"I'll leave Shiro and Allura to give you that talk. When was the last time you tried to do anything for her?" Keith's eyes widened at this. Lance's expression didn't betray that familiar twinkle that came with him trying to be funny or pull off a joke. Keith stared at him for a moment longer, asking him with his eyes alone if he meant what he said.

"I mean it," Lance replied. "When was the last time you tried to just... help? Be there for her? And no, I don't mean dump your feelings all over her like you have since the attack. Like, tried to listen to her."

"I would if she even tried talking to me," Keith grunted. "But every time we're even in the same room, she finds a reason to leave and goes. You've been there, Lance. You've also laughed at me for trying to get her to talk to me."

"And I'm not sorry about that," Lance said, smirking to himself at the memory. His amusement gave way to another serious look. "Dude, that's your problem."

"What is?" Keith asked, defensively.

"You keep trying to get her to talk to you about what happened. Pidge doesn't work that way."

"Oh, come on," Keith rolled his eyes and he prepared to turn and leave. Lance stopped him again.

"Do you want to fix things with Pidge or not?" Lance demanded, drilling a look of annoyance into Keith's unsuspecting gaze. "Because, let me tell you, none of us are happy this is still happening. It's been like a month and you still haven't fixed this whole situation. Shiro will try the passive way and say you need to work it out on your own, but Pidge will  _never_ talk to you again if you don't fix all...  _this."_

Keith scowled, motioning to himself with his arms, "You just gestured to all of me."

"I know what I did," Lance said. "Look, man. It may not look it, but I really care about her. Pidge is like...she reminds me of my little brother and sister. Have you ever had siblings? ...Don't answer that. The point is, I want to help her and the best way I can is making sure you get your head out of your ass long enough to really sit her down and talk."

"Okay, well what do you propose I do, genius?" Keith asked. "I'm not exactly reeking of charm and wit for us to have a magical bonding moment."

Lance mock-winced, glancing down at Keith with a look of mild disgust, "Well, you're right about the reeking part."

_"Lance."_

"Look, just try talking to her--and by that, I don't mean telling her how you feel. When you first bonded with Red, how did you go about it?" Lance's question took Keith off guard long enough for him to actually contemplate it. It had been years since that moment where Red had opened the link and let Keith in, but it was one he couldn't forget even if he tried.

"I...I had to prove I was worthy of being her paladin," Keith said slowly. Lance nodded, urging him on with his hands. Keith drew in a breath and sighed, "Look, back then, we were under attack by Galra sentries and I had to open up an airlock to get Red to accept me. Unless you want me to repeat the last time an airlock was threatened open..."

Lance rolled his eyes, "Boy, you're a piece of work, aren't you?"

Keith scowled. "So, what, you're saying I have to prove to Pidge that I'm worthy of hearing her out? Is that it?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying," Lance said with a grin, clapping Keith in the shoulder and throwing an arm around his neck. "You have to show her you're not just trying to wedge yourself in there. Approach her, but let her meet you half way. It's like kissing--"

"Oh my god."

"--Just  _try_ it, okay?" Lance sighed and gave Keith's forehead a light whap. Keith almost punched him in the gut but settled on shrugging him off none-too-gently. "Be there for her. She'll come around. Like, take a shower first, obviously before you talk to her. Burn those clothes too, because I don't think any kind of soap, space or otherwise, can save those now--"

"I get it. Are you done now?" Keith snapped, inches from strangling the idiot. Lance lifted his hands in a peaceful gesture and nodded.

"I'm done. Good luck," Lance said with a wave and walked off, yawning large into a hand before disappearing down a corner. Keith rolled his eyes once more before turning around. His eyes fell over Pidge's door and wondered for a moment if she was in... Keith sighed and stalked off to his room with the full intent to sink into a tub of hot water and pass out. A moment later, he tugged his shirt up towards his nose and took a whiff before quickly recoiling.

"Great."

* * *

 He didn't leave his canteen in his room.

After a brief yet relieving hot shower, Keith embarked on a search for his canteen. Misplacing his things was high on his list of violent pet peeves that messed with the balance of routine. Even after turning his room upside down, the black and red water bottle failed to be seen. His throat burned uncomfortably with mild dehydration and he wondered about drinking from the faucet but after a particularly disturbing comment from Lance on how all the water in the castle is recycled and the deeper connection that brought them to, Keith's mind settled on a vicious  _Hell no._

Tired, sore, and pretty sour from the confusing/irritating conversation with Lance earlier, Keith all but kicked his door open to go on his hunt for the damn thing. He was clad in only a pair of pants and his towel (no way was he going to wear that pajama set that matched Lance's), glad at least that it was late enough that not just anyone would see him. His mind conjured up the thought of bumping into Lance again or even Allura in his current state of undress and blanched at the thought. Had it not been for the smell, he would've donned his regular clothes.

The cool air of the hallways sent shivers up Keith's exposed back, effective in keeping him from falling asleep as he walked. He busied himself with rubbing his damp hair with his towel, still feeling a few trickles of shower water drip down his back and chest. Muttering, Keith retraced his footsteps and tried to think of the last place he had his canteen.

"Kitchen," he muttered and walked down the hallways until the Kitchen doors appeared before him. The sensor at the edge beeped and the doors slid open, and Keith would've taken a quick look inside and walked in another direction when his eyes failed to find his bottle. Instead, he blinked in surprise then confusion when he saw Coran on his knees and holding a glass of what looked like water.

"Come here, you little beasts, I've got a nice drink for you to try!" Coran sang to the spaces beneath the tables and cabinets.

"Uh..." Coran stiffened before he glanced up, meeting Keith's awkward gaze with one of surprise.

"Oh! Keith!" Coran exclaimed, scrambling up to his feet and nearly tipping the glass of water in his hands over. "You really shouldn't sneak up on someone like that!"

Keith raised a brow, "Right...what are you doing?"

"You haven't happened to see the Allura's mice have you?" Coran asked almost too innocently. "I kind of need them... for an experiment."

"Does Allura know you're thinking about experimenting on them?" Keith asked, cocking his head.

"Well, of course!" Coran replied defensively. Keith clicked his tongue, looking not-at-all convinced, instead he just shook his head and Coran sighed. Keith walked toward the counter while Coran resumed his search of the missing rodents and started his own.

"Hey, have you seen my canteen?" Keith asked.

"The black and red one?" Keith nodded as he walked past Coran to look under the sink area. "Nope, can't say I have."

Keith groaned inwardly and straightened up to see Coran standing right in front of him with the glass of water still in hand. Keith's throat burned at the promise of a drink. "You gonna drink that?"

Coran cocked a brow before looking at the glass in his hands, "Oh! No. I'm not--"

Keith was reaching for it before Coran could elaborate, "Great, thanks." He was too tired to really care about taking an unknown glass of water from Coran, but Keith was glad for the chance to finally douse his thirst. Coran sputtered, probably about to say something about manners, but at this hour Keith could hardly care for manners. He was frustrated, annoyed, and all he wanted was a stupid drink before heading off to bed.

"Keith, I should probably tell you--" Coran began, but Keith had already pressed the glass to his lips and tipped the contents into his mouth. The first warning should've probably been the curious sweet flavor of the cool water that sloshed down his throat. Keith mentally shrugged and kept drinking, relishing the bob of his throat as he tipped the glass up.

"Thanks," Keith said, passing the glass back to Coran--who looked shell-shocked and even a little pale--before letting out a deep yawn. "I'm gonna keep looking for it. Let me know if you spot it."

"Right..." Coran said blankly and Keith waved as he passed him.

"Night, Coran."

The kitchen doors hissed open and Keith walked through them. Just before they closed, he heard a faint, "Oh,  _quiznak,_ " behind him. Keith quirked a brow at it but shrugged, feeling odd and more at ease now that he was out of the kitchen.

* * *

"I should just go to sleep," Pidge muttered to herself for the umpteenth time, glaring at her reflection as she rubbed a towel over her wet hair. The dark circles under her eyes made a compelling argument for her current statement, yet the prospect of dealing with an annoyed Coran was far more persuasive. "He can spend the whole night looking for those mice and still not find them."

As far as Coran knew, she was turning the place upside down in her search for the little rodents. "Hey, maybe he'll figure I went to bed after not finding them... ugh, but what if he throws a fit? He can be such a baby sometimes..."

Pidge sighed and settled on staring at herself in the mirror, contemplating the options before her. In that moment, her eyes took in the familiar look of her brown hair now falling past her collarbones and teasing her skin with wet kisses. She lifted a hand up to her head, measuring her height mindlessly as she leaned forward and measured versus the little lines she had drawn on the glass when she had first joined the team. Following the satisfactory assurance that she did grow a little taller, she let her eyes fall further down and took in the way her body curved a little more than when she was still a scrawny fourteen-year-old.

Muscle and healthy weight hugged her figure in contrast to the flat planes of a boyish figure. A starburst scar bounced in her eyes right over the curve of her hip; a deadly encounter with a Galra monster that nearly ran her through with electric arrows. She followed similar scars and bruises that spotted the space of her body. Pidge faintly wondered about what her mom would say about her current lifestyle and snorted. Knowing her mom she'd be in a panic, insisting that she return to the safety of science and a lab coat career.

A twinge of homesickness tugged the momentary mirth down to her feet. Pidge sighed and turned away from the mirror and returned to her room. "I'm just gonna go tell Coran I'm gonna go to bed."

She tugged on the robe-like bed shirt, (glad at least her breasts weren't big enough to warrant a bra to make the quick trip to Coran), and a pair of pants. Pidge tossed her towel over the hook by her door. The door slid open and Pidge walked out, shivering at the cooler air from the hallways. Last she saw Coran he had been heading in the direction of the training hall and decided to follow her gut.

She walked in silence for a while, wondering faintly if Hunk was still in the Lion Bay area working on the algorithm. Pidge wondered fondly if he was complaining to himself about needed a sandwich before heading off to bed. Lance would gripe about being up so late. Shiro sometimes forgot he'd be in a conversation before he drifted off and nothing was as hilarious to see Allura sigh and pick him up like a toddler instead of the beefed up space pilot he was. The first time she saw Allura lift him up and carry him off, she'd been left speechless before breaking into a fit of laughter. Come to think of it, Keith had been there, snorting and laughing beside her when it happened...

What small smile she had on her face faded yet again. Her chest gave a small squeeze before she was struck with the force of a previous thought.  _Oh crap, I totally forgot I was going to try to talk to him..._

Leave it to Coran to distract her from her previous goals. Pidge heaved a sigh and paused in her walk, wondering if Keith was even up at this ungodly hour. Probably not. Her stomach squeezed and fluttered, which made Pidge frown. Did the very thought of talking to Keith make her nervous? How absurd, it's not like she was afraid of him or anything. Sure, he could be insensitive and persistent as hell, but he's backed off and hasn't made an effort to talk to her recently. Some of the stuff he's yelled at her from the other side of her door did stick, though... maybe it was that.

"I've been such a crummy teammate, haven't I?" she muttered to herself. Pidge groaned and continued her walk, deciding to find Keith later in the morning and finally giving him a chance to talk it out. Whatever this was.

The decision was not without its anxious response and Pidge felt annoyed at how her heart picked up at the idea of confronting Keith finally. It was annoying and frankly it aggravated her. Pidge picked up the speed in her walk, hoping the brisk pace would help with getting rid of the butterflies now raging in her chest. Her eyes fell to the ground as she did, thinking viciously,  _Oh my god, dude, just freaking chill. It's not a big deal, we're just going to talk to him and it's going to be fine. Besides, it's not going to be for a while. Just breathe and--_

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

Pidge reeled, nearly tripping over her feet as her nose registered the pain of running into someone else. She glanced up, ready to issue a quick verbal gripe of annoyance, and froze. Everything sitting on her tongue died a wretched death as a small squeak of surprise escaped her.

"Keith!"

Keith glanced down at her, taken aback, "Pidge," he responded.

Pidge's mind went blank. A stiff silence passed between the two of them and she finally tore her gaze away from him after realizing, quite painfully obvious, that she had been staring at him. It took far too long to realize that he was only clad in a towel and his pair of black trousers. Pidge's cheeks flushed pink.

"Um," Keith began and Pidge was struck with the full force of a single thought.  _Oh, I am so not ready._

"Sorry about bumping into you," she said, ducking her head and preparing to duck past him. Her stomach squeezed and she gasped when she felt Keith's hand wrap around her arm, holding her back.

"Hold on," Keith said. "Are you--"

"I'm fine," Pidge said sharply, inwardly wincing at how harsh she sounded. Keith's hand flinched and let her go abruptly. Pidge was immediately torn between apologizing and running away. Her legs, as it happened, suddenly refused to work and when she glanced up she was assaulted by the wounded look on Keith's face. He was not looking at her, but down at her feet.

"Sorry," he said finally and she stiffened. "I didn't mean to..."

Pidge felt the air in her chest become tight with unknown emotions and she clenched her jaw. "I-it's fine... I don't really care... have you seen Coran?"

"He was in the kitchen," Keith replied with a vague nod. "Apparently he's looking for Allura's mice."

"Yeah..." Pidge said, nodding fervently. "Okay, great. Um... thanks. I'll, uh, see you around."

"Right," Keith said and Pidge let out a shaky sigh before she turned around and prepared to leave. She didn't take three steps until, "Pidge, wait."

Pidge kept walking, hoping he'd just get the hint and leave her alone. She heard him draw in a breath and let out in a quick huff.

"I'm sorry!"

She froze, stopping short and feeling her heart jump to her throat. Footsteps echoed behind her until they stopped just a ways near her. "I'm sorry... for everything. I didn't realize at the time what capturing that Galra general meant to you... All I saw was that you were in danger and that we needed to get out of there. I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

"Did you think to ask me if I needed your help?" the words fell past her lips faster than she could stop them. Keith said nothing and a wave of guilt swept over her. She tilted her head up and squeezed her eyes shut. Pidge turned around but refused to look at him, letting her eyes fall on his hands and saw them flinch. "Sorry...I didn't mean to say that."

She half expected for him to respond like he always seemed to do whenever she said anything that he disagreed with. Instead, she was welcomed by silence and the nature of his presence. Pidge glanced up at his face quickly, seeing a strange expression on his face that might've been regret, might've been confusion. It was new but she welcomed it.

"I realize that you were just trying to help... I know that. I just... I was so  _close_ to finding out more about what happened to my family. I've been trying to find them for so long, Keith... almost four years now. It's been so long... I worry I'll forget how my dad looks like, or what he sounds like. All I have is a picture of my brother and I. But I can't blame you for what you did because I probably would've done the same."

Keith took a step forward and Pidge glanced up, meeting his gaze and seeing a flash of something she never expected in his gaze now. A bizarre sort of fondness burned in his eyes that had her almost shaking with a strange hyperawareness. "Uh... Keith?"

"I'm sorry about being a jerk," he said. "But I'm not sorry about what I did back there. I made a call and I feel like it was the right one. I had to save you, Pidge..."

"Right..." Pidge said, taking a small step back and felt her mind ring with slight alarm when he took a closer step. "Are you...feeling okay?"

"Never better," Keith said with an odd sort of smile. "I just want to be sure that we're cool, you and I."

"Oh," Pidge said, swallowing thickly when she caught a whiff of his scent. He was far too close, and it was doing things to her. "Uhm...y-yeah, we're cool. Are you sure you're okay? You're acting weird."

"Has anyone ever told you, you're really smart?" Keith said and it was so weird, Pidge blanched.

"I...what??"

"Like really, really smart, and pretty" Keith said, reaching up to rub the back of his hair, damp from a shower. It was then that she saw a trickle of water fall from his hair to trail down his neck and toward his collarbone. A hot flush burned over her body and Pidge took another step back, her surprise mounted when he continued forward. Pidge looked away, stammering and trying to figure out a way to deal with this bizarre behavior. "I never noticed how pretty you are. I mean, I have, but now..."

"R-right, uh, listen, I should probably go meet up with Coran," Pidge said, looking anywhere else, while her cheeks burned and heart raced. "We're kind of doing a weird experiment and he probably needs my help finding the muscles-- _mice_ \--for the experiment. You know for science--uh..."

"Katie." Pidge's head snapped up and she instantly regretted it when she realized just how close Keith was. She could see the gray flecks in his eyes and the thin rims his irises had become.

"Uh... Keith? What are you doing?" she squeaked. Pidge's mouth went dry when she felt his hand gently cup her chin, tilting her head as he began to lean in. Her eyes widened when she felt his breath ghost over her lips.

"You're just... so pretty..." Keith murmured, and his eyes slid closed just as he tilted his chin a bit forward. Pidge panicked. Her arm shot up, palm first before striking into his sternum. Keith let out a sharp grunt and Pidge turned tail and ran. Her body felt light and heavy all at once as she ran, mind spinning as she tried to calm her heart and cool her head.

Pidge turned a corner and let out a shout when she saw Coran moments before she crashed into him. They toppled into the ground and Pidge hissed when her elbow landed roughly against the ground.

"Pidge!" Coran shouted, concerned. "What the--"

"Hide me!" Pidge yelped, scrambling behind Coran. Coran sputtered, beyond bewildered. 

"Pidge!" Keith's voice echoed behind them and Pidge squeaked and tugged Coran.

"Pidge, what in Altea's moon has come over--"

"It's Keith!" Pidge hissed, yanking Coran down the side of the corridor to hide behind a wall. "He's gone  _nuts!_ I think...! I mean, I don't know. I was just looking for you, trying to tell you that I was going to go to bed, when I bumped into Keith--like literally bumped into him--and we started talking because I felt bad about how I've been treating him and then he started going off about...uh...stuff and then I think he just tried to kiss me?!?"

"Pidge, where are you?" Keith called again and Pidge sank her face into her hands.

"Hide me!" she begged Coran. Coran just stared at her, before his surprise melted into a look of pale realization.

"Ohhh," Coran said. Pidge huffed, glancing over his shoulder to find any sign of Keith. "Well... this was unexpected."

"What are you  _on_ about, just hide me or something!" Pidge hissed. To her surprise, Coran let out a laugh before he gave her a warm pat on the head.

"Not to worry!" Coran said through a tense smile. "I know exactly what to do. I'm pretty sure I know what's wrong with him."

"Wrong with him?" Pidge parroted. She jumped when Keith's voice came again, calling for her. Coran beamed down at her.

"Uh, she's over here!" Coran called. Pidge's stomach fell to the ground and her body erupted into white-hot panic.

" _What are you doing?!"_   To Pidge's horror, Keith appeared around the corner, his eyes landing on her immediately and a look of relief and affection took over his face.

"There you are," he sighed and smiled down at her. Pidge's mind stopped short when Keith took a few wide steps toward her despite her efforts to hide behind Coran, took her face in his hands and swept down. The feel of his lips on her was so sudden, she felt the shock send a fierce wave of heat through her body like a fever. Pidge floundered, arms flailing even as Keith tugged her lip between his and gave them a gentle suck. Pidge's mind went white.

A loud bang echoed in her ears and Keith's hold on her fell slack. The pressure on her mouth that sent tingles over her body disappeared and Pidge stumbled backward, hand rising to her lips and eyes falling down to the collapsed figure of an unconscious Keith on the ground.

"There we go!" Coran exclaimed happily. Pidge glanced up at him to find a baton in his hands, no doubt the object used to knock Keith out. "Good ol' science! Ahem... well, I guess that means we should take him to the lab then."

Pidge said nothing, gaping up at him in stunned silence. Coran nodded, swept down and grabbed Keith's body and swung him over his shoulder. "Well, uh, don't just stand there gawking! There are tests we need to do! Come along! There's much explaining to be done!"

Pidge stared after them with only a single thought to keep her rooted.  _What just happened?_


	2. Chapter 2

It took both Pidge and Coran's efforts to carry Keith's dead weight back toward the lab. All manner of casual behavior was swiftly put to death under the stress of this new secret. When they were finally safe inside the lab and a table pulled out to lay Keith over it, Pidge busied herself with gathering what recording the castle's feeds picked up on the latest fiasco. Her fingers were shaking as she gathered all the recordings and dumped them into a private drive in her suit's systems before brutally erasing them from the Castle's cloud. By the time she was finished, Coran had hooked up a few wires to Keith's arm and had slapped on a vital monitor over his chest. The tech pulsed a steady blue glow once it was attached to Keith's naked chest and based on the readings, he was sleeping just fine.

"Alright, I'll just be taking a few samples to see what we're dealing with here," Coran had said more out loud and for his own benefit than actual interest in conversing with the frighteningly silent Pidge. Only a few minutes later did the results come back in on one of Coran's tablets.

"What's it say?" Pidge asked, fingers plucking a rapid rhythm against her arms as she hugged herself tightly. Coran sucked in a breath.

"Well," Coran said, wincing as he passed her the tablet. "The good news is, his body is not experiencing any adverse effects...that we know of. His neurological responses are fine, his vitals are strong, honestly, it doesn't look at all like anything's wrong with him."

"I don't understand," Pidge grunted. "You said you know what's wrong with him. Keith wouldn't just up and...do  _that_ if there wasn't something seriously wrong with him."

"Well, this is the curious thing..." Coran began with a nervous laugh. "Remember how I had a glass of the serum? For testing it on the mice? Well I might've...accidentally given Keith the serum instead."

Pidge became terrifyingly still. "You did  _what...?"_

Coran nodded, "The serum. Keith drank it. All of it. not a single drop left. Funny how that goes...isn't it?"

It was becoming clear to him that Pidge wasn't going to move any time soon, and something about that was scarier than her exploding, Coran couldn't guess why. "How did you even manage to convince him to drink it?"

"See that's the thing. The curious thing I mentioned earlier? I didn't convince him at all. In fact, Keith was looking for his canteen and saw I was holding the glass and...to be completely fair it does sort of look a lot like water. He must've been thirsty because he just took it and drank it before I could stop him. And...well, here we are."

The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a sharp knife and some hard effort. Pidge hardly even blinked before she suddenly began moving like some sort of frightening creature. Coran twiddled his thumbs sheepishly as Pidge paced back and forth in a seething rage. "You know, most wouldn't guess this, but has anyone ever told you, you can be downright scary?"

Pidge whirled around on him, brown hair dried wild and expression vicious. "Give me  _one_  good reason why I shouldn't tell the Princess right now."

"Now, now," Coran backed up, glancing around nervously, as though the very mention of Allura would summon her. "Let's not be brash here...!"

Pidge growled and reached up to dig her fists into Coran's jacket before pointing at Keith's unconscious body. "Oh, I'm being brash! Look what you did! You turned him into some kind of... some kind of  _kissing_ monster!! All because you decided to go on ahead and run a serum trial despite my specific recommendations _not to!!_ "

Keith was breathing soundly, but every so often, he would utter Pidge's name in a voice that made Pidge want to dig a hole and die. Pidge shook Coran with a snarl, " _Fix him. Now._ "

Coran swallowed thickly and sighed. "Alright, Pidge. I know you're upset--"

Pidge let out a sharp grunt of annoyance. "Understatement of the millennia, Coran!"

"--But you must understand, I would've never expected Keith, of all people, to actually... y'know drink the whole thing..." Pidge let out a tight scream through her teeth and kicked over a nearby chair. Coran flinched, attempting and failing to appear calm and collected.

"Maybe I should've just sent you off to bed earlier..." he muttered. Pidge let out a tight breath and ran her fingers through her hair several times, succeeding only in making her hair stick out in crazier angles.

"Okay, we just need to stay calm," she said through controlled breaths. "Do you know exactly what he drank?"

"Yes!" Coran exclaimed, smiling widely before glancing to the side. Pidge spotted the look with narrowing eyes.

"What did you give him?" she asked with a tight voice, eyes closing. “Coran, _please_ , tell me you know what you gave him.”

“Well,” Coran began, motioning awkwardly with his hands. “I have an approximate knowledge of what I gave him.”

Pidge sank over a table, groaning until she was almost screaming into her own hands. “What have you _done_?!”

“Alright, look we can fix it. I mean, on the plus side, he’s not spontaneously combusting?” Pidge groaned again. Coran hurried to stand at her side. “I will fix this, Pidge. I promise, we’ll get him back to normal faster than a pack of yelmors can fly over a mardle’s back!”

“ _I don’t even know what that means._ ”

Coran gave Pidge’s fallen head a gentle pat, “There, there…”

Pidge glanced up so fast her hair flipped over her eyes for a moment. “The team can’t know about this.”

“Uhh…”

“Coran, no, you have to promise me. We can’t let them find out what happened to Keith, Allura would _slaughter_ us if she found out!”

Coran let out a soft chuckle, even if he didn’t sound too comfortable. “It won’t come to that.”

“The team will _never_ let me live this down,” Pidge insisted. “Keith would probably never ever want to talk to me again. Assuming, we even find a way to fix him! Worst case scenario, Voltron implodes because of this colossal screw-up!”

“Pidge,” Coran sighed, placing a hand to squeeze her shoulder gently. “It won’t come to that. I promise. We’ll just keep him in here until I can come up with an antidote—“

“Oh god, we’ve killed him.”

“— _and_ no one will be the wiser! It’ll be over in no time!" Coran tugged a gentle hand under Pidge's chin to encourage her to look at him. She fixed him a despairing glare. "Look on the bright side! You know, there's a slim chance he could wake up and be completely back to normal. We could be in the clear and not even know it!”

The sound of light groaning made them turn around. Pidge’s stomach fell yet again upon seeing Keith sit up, rubbing his head and hissing. “Ow… what the hell…?”

“Ah, Keith!” Coran exclaimed, fidgeting nervously. “You’re—uh—you’re up...rather quick!”

“Why do I feel like I got punched in the neck?” Keith mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

“Coran kind of knocked you out,” Pidge spoke up, watching Keith warily. Keith groaned again before glancing up and meeting Pidge’s gaze. There was an instant where Pidge felt slightly hopeful that he had gone back to normal. He stared up at her, no different than how he usually looked at her. Pidge dared to hope a little bit more...

Until Keith’s face melted into a look of syrupy adoration and he sighed, “Hey, beautiful. I would say I had a dream of you but I'm not entirely sure if I'm still dreaming or if you're really this gorgeous in real life.”

Coran’s face fell just as Pidge burned pink. Without another word, Coran reached over and pinched a point on Keith’s neck. He was out before his head hit the table.

“On the less bright side, I think we just turned Keith into Lance.”

Pidge slid a palm over her face until her skin stretched tight, groaning for a long, long time.

* * *

It was at the most obscene hour that Pidge finally dragged her feet back toward her room. With a swift kick to the rump, Coran had managed to get Pidge out of the lab with a firm order to go to sleep and get some rest. Promises of keeping Keith out of anyone’s way fell on anxious ears but the level of stress she had endured in less than an hour had been enough to wipe her out. Pidge swore she would be able to sleep for eternity if it meant pretending Keith hadn’t kissed her as though they were the only two people in the—

…

This whole thing was a nightmare.

A terrible, horrible, nightmare that went on for too long and all Pidge wanted to do was go to sleep and never get out of bed… or at least until Coran fixed Keith, and made sure that he never remembered a single thing that happened between them.

Yet, despite the exhaustion, Pidge felt as though she had been hooked to a live wire. Her mind had long since turned traitor and replayed the terrible, awful— _amazing_ —moment repeatedly until she had no choice but to stuff her pillow over her face and scream until she went hoarse. Yet, the hours passed and Pidge remained captive to the memory of Keith gazing at her lovingly and drawing out a tight gasp from her body with an unexpected kiss.

Sleep came at the worst time and even then Pidge was plagued by an odd tingling sensation in her gut that refused to leave even in sleep. It took a knock at her door to yank her from those feverish dreams. The reaction was so strong, Pidge woke mid-toss from her bed and scrambling on the floor in a tangle of sweat and bedsheets.

“I’m up!” she screamed, grabbing her glasses from the edge of the nightstand with shaking fingers.

“…Uh, Pidge?”

Pidge winced. _Oh no. Shiro._ “Yeah?” she cleared her throat, trying to sound casual and normal instead of out of breath and wired. “What’s up?”

“It’s lunch time and you’re still in bed, I was just wondering if you’re okay.”

“Yep!” she replied cheerily, untangling herself from her bedsheets and standing up. “Just—fine! Had a bit of a late night working on some…stuff!”

“Right…” Shiro didn’t sound too convinced through the door. “Anyway, I was just wondering if you've seen Keith lately? He wasn't in his room when I went to check on him.”

Pidge’s knees wobbled, tripping until she collided against her suit and it fell all around her with a crash. She swore under her breath, shaking despite her efforts to calmly set the suit to the side.

“Pidge? You alright?”

“Yep! Just fine!” Pidge called out. “Yeah, I haven’t seen him. Have you asked Lance?”

“Yeah…he said Keith may have gone to talk to you.”

Pidge drew in a sigh, unsure of what to say. Her stomach clenched and her mind treacherously replayed the moment Keith turned the corner and fixed his eyes right over hers. The look of complete loving relief had left her stunned silent until he approached her and practically swept her into his arms. And that kiss—

“I haven’t seen him,” Pidge replied. “Have you tried the training deck?”

“Yeah. Weirdly enough, I found his canteen by Coran’s office. He doesn't usually leave his stuff lying around in weird places...” A shot of ice cold worry filled Pidge. “Anyway, Hunk made lunch and later I want to run a few drills with the team. If you see Keith, could you let him know?”

“Sure, yeah, of course!” Pidge called back, sinking her head into her palms. “I’ll do that.”

“Great,” Shiro said, sounding surprised and (God forbid) even a little relieved. “I’m glad to hear that Pidge. This whole tension between the two of you this past month…” Pidge wanted to die. Luckily, Shiro spared her the talk of teamwork and friendship. “…Anyway, thanks. It means a lot. See you at the drills?”

“Yep!” Pidge called out with weak enthusiasm. "I'll see you there!"

"Perfect. Thanks, Pidge." Without another word, Shiro's footsteps faded away, leaving Pidge to stare at the mess all over her floor.

“...Can’t wait.”

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, Lance wasn’t an idiot. Not that that was the popular belief. Quite the contrary, Lance knew everyone considered him to be one of the brightest members of team Voltron. But that was beside the point—the point is, Lance wasn’t an idiot.

He knew when something was going down and going down _big time._ The following morning since his little bonding chat with Keith, Lance just knew.

“Hey,” Lance said, lightly tapping Hunk’s shoulder as they began to settle for lunch in the common room. “You know anything?”

“Hmm?” Hunk peered up from his chair, mouth filled with a bit of goo sandwich. Lance rolled his eyes. “About what?”

“Them,” Lance nudged in the direction of Pidge and Coran. Hunk arched a brow before turning to glance at the duo in question. Pidge was staring into her suit’s hologram system, leg wiggling anxiously as she tapped furiously over her arm and her food lay abandoned by her lap. Coran was busy on the other side of the room, peering with a deep scowl into a tablet and scratching furiously at his mustache. “They’re acting weird, don’t you think?”

Hunk stiffened, shaking his head. “I’m not…sure what you’re talking about.”

Lance groaned, “Oh come on, Hunk. You’ve got to be blind not to notice they’re hiding something.”

Hunk gave a half-hearted shrug, cramming his face with food. “Mmm…nope. You’re probably just overthinking it.”

“Come on, seriously?” Lance asked, incredulous. “It’s obvious, buddy. They’re hiding something. Which is dumb because last night I bumped into Keith and I talked to him about approaching Pidge to fix what they’re dealing with and what, now he’s missing? I dunno… I don’t like it.”

Hunk sighed, frowning with some confusion before shaking it off. “Look, Lance, maybe you should just let it go. I mean, I seriously doubt anything’s happening.”

“Nuh-uh,” Lance peered at the two with a suspicious gleam. “We’ll just have to see.”

“Lance, come on,” Hunk sighed. “Just let it go—“

“I’m gonna go hit the training deck!” Lance suddenly exclaimed, slapping Hunk firmly on the shoulder. Hunk let out a stiff sigh at Pidge’s and Coran’s abrupt reactions. Lance beamed up at them before standing up with a flourish and waltzing out the door. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

Unremarkably, his visit to the training deck only led to an awkward encounter of seeing both Shiro and Allura in the middle of a sparring match that might’ve not been a sparring match at all.

“Oh, Lance!” Allura had exclaimed, looking flushed and embarrassed from where she was straddling Shiro on the ground. “Just showing Shiro some wrestling techniques!”

“Oh my God, everyone knows!!” Lance had groaned loudly, glaring at the stunned expressions of the tangled couple on the floor. “Get a room already!”

Walking out of that was something that could’ve left him weepy once upon a time, but Lance was stronger than that. Even if he did mope for a while after that. (“I already said, I’m fine, Hunk. I was _not_ crying.”)

His search continued, hoping to find Keith with his Lion and perhaps narrowing down his opinion on what was going on with Pidge. Yet, the hangar was vacant save for the dormant Lions, and Lance was left feeling a little bewildered.

“Keith?” Lance called out, his voice echoing back to his ears. Hands tucked in his pockets, Lance walked around Red with an odd expression. “Buddy? You here?”

Not a peep. Lance scowled, tugging at an earlobe awkwardly. “Okay.”

* * *

Lance found Hunk hunched over Pidge’s computer in the main testing bay, tapping away and humming to himself. The door hissed as it shut behind him and Lance couldn’t help but heave a sigh as he approached his best friend.

“Let me guess, you didn’t find anything?” Hunk asked from where he sat.

“If you want to discount the disaster of seeing Shiro and Allura practically romping on the Training Deck, no. I didn’t find anything.”

Hunk snorted in amusement, shaking his head. “I did tell you. Just leave it be.”

“I dunno, Hunk,” Lance sighed as he threw himself on a wheelie chair and spread himself loosely over its surface. “I’m telling you, something weird is going on. I mean, I haven’t seen Keith at all today. Like I know the guy’s practically a shadow and likes to skulk the shadows but this is…weirdly absent of him.”

“Well, hey, didn’t you say you talked to him last night?” Hunk asked, somewhat distractedly. “You think maybe what you said made him take a sabbatical?”

Lance snorted, “Doubt it. Keith never listens to me. I mean… he does. He should. I’m practically the leader of the team anyway, so of course he does.”

“Sure does,” Hunk replied.

“But, that’s not it though. Pidge has been weirdly skittish lately, too.”

Hunk made a weird sort of whiny sound, “Well, she has been working a lot lately. You should just cut her some slack. I mean I’d also be acting that way too if I were involved in a super, secret project…”

Lance’s eyes snapped open just as Hunk trailed off, the tapping of his fingers stopped abruptly. “Hunk…?”

Hunk bit down on his lips. Lance scrambled closer just as Hunk let out a despairing sigh. “What do you know, Hunk. Tell me. Dude, you said secret project—“

“Nnnnope. I said nothing, you didn’t hear me say anything—“

“—Hunk,” Lance’s eyes widened, getting close enough to see the sheer fright hanging to Hunk’s expression. “Oh my God, you know what’s going on.”

“Mm-mm.”

Lance jabbed a finger against Hunk’s arm, earning him a yelp of pain. “You do! Dude, you’re in on it. What’s going on? What’s the secret project? Is Keith involved, too? Who else knows?”

Hunk sighed, rubbing nervously at his neck. “Lance, I should really get back to this set of algorithms. It’s like super important for Pidge—“

“Oh, it’s for Pidge, is it?!”

Hunk swore while Lance jabbed a fist in the air. “Spill, dude. We’re best friends, you can’t keep this from me. I’ll get in your _mind,_ man! Come on, Hunk. Hunky. My bro. My dude. My guy. What do you know, man?” the onslaught continued for a solid minute until Hunk inevitably broke.

“Okay!” Hunk snapped. “Look, I don’t know the whole details but apparently, Coran’s trying to engineer some kind of… chemical weapon. Pidge has been running the numbers on the diagnostics to make sure everything works before they attempt actual trials.”

Lance raised a brow, “A chemical weapon? And what you’re helping her with a program that does the algorithms on their own?”

“Basically,” Hunk said and then let out a slow huff. He threw a quick look over his shoulders before motioning Lance closer. Lance bit back a giddy grin and inched close to peer over Hunk’s shoulder. “Okay, so she just asked me to put together the program but for me to even do that much I needed some information. Specific information. Basically, I cheated and hacked the private files and boy let me tell you, Pidge does not screw around when it comes to firewalls, but I got in. I read some if the information and here, look…”

The hologram switched over to display a series of graphs and data composed with specific elements with curious results. Lance may not have been incredibly apt with the sciences, but he had to know enough as a pilot. A few glances over the data made Lance frown.

“Hold on…” he said, motioning toward a specific set of information. “Am I looking at this right?”

“What, what do you see?” Hunk asked, curious. Lance cocked his head and let out a snort.

“No…can’t be. Show me the graph prior.” Hunk’s fingers tapped the keyboard and pulled up the graph on demand. “Okay… so if I’m seeing this right, all these foreign chemicals function similarly to what can be found on earth—specifically within the human brain.”

“Right,” Hunk said, nodding.

“You put all these together and naturally there are going to be some problems in mixing them, right depending on the dose…”

Hunk waited, pursing his lips as Lance suddenly fell silent. “What is it? Lance?”

Lance huffed in disbelief, grabbing Hunk by the arm and pulling him forward. “Hunk, come on. If these chemicals are basically the same as the ones found in the human brain but at a higher concentration, what do they look like?”

“I dunno, dangerous?” Hunk asked. For the first time, Lance felt like the genius and he couldn’t help laughing.

“Hunk, if you put these monoamines together—dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin, serotonin, and vasopressin—what do you get?” Lance asked, making circular motions with his hands.

“Oh that’s easy, you get—” Hunk suddenly stiffened with realization, eyes growing wide. “You get the chemical compounds for love…”

“Exactly!” Lance exclaimed, taking a moment to gloat over having known something so simple over the big brain that belonged to Hunk. Only, the praise he expected from his friend didn’t come. Instead, Hunk stared off in growing confusion. Lance tilted his chin, “What is it?”

“So…basically they’re trying to make…a, what, a love potion? Is that it?” Hunk asked, frowning. Lance nodded.

“Looks like it, and judging by the numbers in these foreign substances, it’s a pretty damn potent one at that,” Lance said, crossing his hands behind his head and resting back on his seat. There was a momentary pause where yet another epiphany overcame him and when the two glanced at one another it became apparent it was shared.

“Okay but…why a love potion?” Hunk asked.

Lance sat up, “Most importantly, what is it for?”

 


	3. Chapter 3

If Pidge had her way, she would've allowed doors that slammed if one was feeling particularly cross or stressed. Very little filled the satisfaction of slamming a door when one was feeling like murdering a certain ginger-haired Altean. Then again, if Pidge really had her way, she would've said no to Coran's insane idea from the start and avoided this entire situation. She would've probably made amends with Keith in a way that made sense, and things would've gone on their merry way with the only threat to daily life being a Galra Emperor named Zarkon. But no. Of course not. It was enough to tempt her into a colorful storm of cursing and swearing that would've made Lance's ears burn pink.

Instead, the doors to Coran's lab hissed open and shut behind her, and Pidge settled on kicking aside a chair that happened to get in her way. She did revel in some satisfaction from Coran's little jump of surprise at the act of violence.

"Had a nice lunch?" he asked.

" _We_ ," Pidge motioned between the two of them, incensed. "Are royally screwed."

"Screwed...oh, right. I keep forgetting the words you earthlings use sometimes. Your slang is so atrocious," Coran huffed, lifting a vial of liquid up to his eyes.

" _Quiznak,_ " Pidge snapped pettily and leered when Coran shot her an unamused glare. "Please tell me you've found a cure already."

"Working on it, I already told you." Coran let out a sigh before lowering the vials and reaching over to grab some equipment to measure some data. "I've been able to keep him inside a pod for a while. Just to keep him out of the way."

"Coran, Shiro wants us to run  _drills._ What am I supposed to tell him?" Pidge asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something," Coran said, sounding far too calm than Pidge would've preferred. A tick began over her eyebrow and Pidge let out a strained sigh.

"I really can't," Pidge said. "Every excuse I have would only end up with the team barging in here and demanding to see Keith."

"Then tell them nothing!" Coran replied, turning around to give her a small smile. "Feigning ignorance is the best sort of excuse we can use for now."

"And what will happen when Shiro decides to search for him? The amount of time we have before the team gets suspicious is running out. I'm already getting weird vibes from Lance, and I'm pretty sure he's already beginning to snoop around."

Coran tensed, fixing Pidge an odd sort of look. "You haven't told anyone of what this is, have you?"

Pidge shook her head, leaning back to grab the chair she had kicked earlier to sit on. She pressed her head against the top. "The only one who may have a small idea is Hunk, but I trust him enough to not bring any attention to this... You still haven't told me what the real reason for this project is, Coran."

"All in due time," was his expected response. Pidge scowled, but before she had a chance to argue, Coran suddenly took off toward the other side of the lab. Pidge blinked in surprise and stood up to chase after him, curious as to his abrupt departure.

"What? Did you figure something out?" Pidge asked as she followed, dodging tables and chairs as well as other assorted and floating technology. They walked through a door near the back and Pidge let out a soft gasp of surprise when she saw the large pod near the center. Within the perunium glass, Keith hung suspended, eyes closed and resting. A gray robe was wrapped around him (much to Pidge's relief), preserving his decency well enough.

"Is he...?" Pidge began.

"Frozen? Not at all," Coran shook his head as he approached the pod, immediately pressing a few commands into the system.

"The cryogenesis is only necessary if he were to be inflicted with wounds or disease. He's just sleeping, for now. However..." he trailed off as the glass suddenly dispersed in a field of energy particles. Pidge swallowed nervously as Keith's body settled on the metal beneath him. "Not for long."

"Hold on, what--" Pidge began taking a few steps closer to Coran when Keith suddenly let out a soft sigh. He stirred, shifting and blinking his eyes. He looked mildly disoriented, glancing over to Coran and Pidge with a tired look. The can of worms that opened when they walked in the pod room had burst into butterflies within Pidge's stomach. All she could do was glance back and forth between Keith and Coran with an anxious expression.

"Good morning, Keith!" Coran's bright exclamation made Pidge jump. "Or rather, good afternoon! How do you feel?"

"Coran, what are you doing?" Pidge hissed under her breath as Keith blinked and glanced at his surroundings, taking everything in with a sleepy appraisal.

"Coran?" Keith spoke before his lips broke into a yawn. "What am I doing in here?"

Pidge curled her fingers against the hem of her shirt, recognizing the growing damp over her skin as a nervous sweat. Coran didn't appear concerned at all and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

"Take it easy, Keith. I was just running some diagnostics. Can't you remember? We were giving you a quick check-up. Safety reasons and all that!" Coran chattered away casually. Keith nodded yet his expression didn't appear particularly convinced. He looked away from Coran and right at Pidge. She tensed at his abrupt attention.

"Hey," he said. Pidge swallowed again, unsure how to read his eyes.

"Hey," she replied, giving him a weak wave. Keith looked away and Pidge wondered at it before he took a few tentative steps out of the pod.

"How are we feeling?" Coran asked. 

"Fine. Tired." Keith's arms curled and stretched as he let out a tight grunt. The gray robe became taught over his skin, parting slightly over his chest and revealing pale skin and a hint of sculpted muscle. Pidge looked away quickly, ears burning with embarrassment.  _Oh God, get it together._

"Good!" Coran beamed. "Well, I think now's a good a time as ever to tell you that we need to do a few tests! It shouldn't be anything too bizarre. Just a few stress tests to see how you're doing and to update the medical bay's information on everyone."

Keith nodded before glancing over at Pidge. Her heart gave a little squeeze at that and she fought the urge to kick herself for it. "Will you be there?"

Pidge blinked in surprise, "Uh...I guess?"

Keith pursed his lips before looking back at Coran. "Okay, I'm down. But... can I get some pants first?"

"Of course! Let me just go get them!" Coran nodded enthusiastically and turned around. He shot Pidge an encouraging look before heading out.  _So far so good?_ Pidge wasn't sure they were out of the doghouse yet. Still, the lack of smooth lines and flirting could be a sign of progress. Pidge let out a slow sigh when she noticed Keith hadn't made any movements toward her, preferring to finish a few stretches. She'll have to ask Coran if he had administered anything recently that would warrant this change.

"So, uh," Pidge began, fidgeting. "You don't...do you remember anything? From before?"

Keith glanced up at her as he touched his toes and raised a brow. "Kind of? My head's a little fuzzy, but I guess it's from the pod."

He sounded normal... Pidge nodded slowly and glanced around the area only to spot a refreshment station by the pod. She glanced back at Keith and decided to get him something to drink, more to give herself something to do than to stand there staring at him as he stretched and flexed under that thin robe.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling okay," Pidge said over her shoulder. "Hopefully you won't have to remember everything but it's good to see you back to normal, I guess."

"Normal?" was Keith's response. Pidge let out a slower breath, feeling a bud of relief begin in her stomach. She pressed a few buttons on the pad where a few tubes hung out and a bag dispenser stood. The machine whirred to life and a slim bag appeared beneath one of the tubes. Pidge watched as water began to pour into the bag.

"Yeah," she said as a bubble of anxious laughter burst from her chest. "You wouldn't believe the crap that's happened in the past day. Believe it or not, but you were acting super weird, but I guess I can't blame you for that. I still don't know what the hell Coran gave you to make you suddenly start behaving like Lance on an aphrodisiac."

Pidge grabbed the bag once the drink was ready, grabbing a straw for Keith to sip. She turned around, only to come face to face with Keith's warm and loving expression. Pidge yelped, scrambling backward as the bag fell from her grasp, only to be caught by Keith's quick hand. She didn't get very far, judging by how quickly her back hit the nearest wall.

"Keith, what are you--!"

"I know a thing or two about crappy days," Keith said, lips quirking into a boyish smile that had Pidge's mind spinning with shock. "Lucky for you though, I know what can make it better."

Pidge let out a squeak of alarm just as Keith began to duck down, eyes sliding close when their noses brushed together. He may have been fast then, but luckily, Pidge was faster. Her hand shot up between them and she pressed it against Keith's mouth just seconds before his lips attempted to steal another kiss.

"N-nope!" Pidge said, eyes wide and heart racing. "I--uh--I think I'm good!"

Pidge's cheeks burned when his eyes blinked open to peer down at her curiously. Pidge stared up at him, unable to come up with a proper response save a few stammering excuses that ended up coming out as barely comprehensible. Keith pulled away from her fingers, smiling mischievously.

"Cat got your tongue?" Keith asked, leaning back in to press a gentle kiss against her fingertips. Every soft graze of his lips against her skin was breaking through every possible excuse in her mind, leaving Pidge to stare at him in a frozen state of surprise and speechlessness. Suddenly, Keith's hand took hers, callouses rubbing against the skin of her wrist and he trailed a line of kisses down her palm. Pidge felt a tremor begin within her knees and jolt through her when he peeked at her through half-lidded eyes.

"Uh-um..." Pidge stammered, feeling rather transfixed and perplexed as to why he wasn't pulling away in disgust at the collecting sweat over her fingers. "Y-you sh-should...I mean, I should probably--Maybe we should--"

"Hmm?" Keith hummed and she felt the sound vibrate against her wrist where his mouth was now trailing warm kisses over. Pidge was caught between a rock of distress and the impressive gleam of affection and even desire pointed directly at her through Keith's eyes. She could hardly get her mind together without him touching her. It was driving her mad. "Go on, Katie. You can tell me anything."

Pidge tensed up when Keith stepped ever further, drawing a hand up her arm to rest at the nape of her neck.

"Just say the word and I'll do it," Keith said softly, and her eyes fell over his mouth, catching his tongue flicker over his lips. This was it. This was what she needed.

Pidge cleared her throat and drew in a shaky breath. Suddenly, she found it. An edge of annoyance and anger within the maelstrom of surprise and the frazzled emotions that Keith wrought into her chest.

"Keith," she began, glad her voice didn't tremble like the rest of her.

"Yes, Katie?" he sighed.

Pidge pursed her lips and summoned a fierce glare toward Keith's gaze. She clenched her fingers away from his skin and pulled away. "Get off me."

Keith blinked in surprise, not at all expecting her reaction. "Now?"

Pidge was happy for the comment, it only fed her irritation further. "Yes, now! Get off!"

If she hadn't been so aggravated she might have gawked when Keith visibly pouted, gazing at her with a wounded expression before letting her go and taking a step back. Pidge tugged her hands down to the hem of her shirt and gathered her bearings as best she could. She adjusted her glasses with slightly trembling fingers and cleared her throat. With a huff, Pidge managed to make a quick escape, hurrying past him before he attempted to do anything else.

"Coran!!" Pidge snarled through tight lips as she stormed past the open doors and nearly crashed into Coran's chest. She stopped before they could slam into one another and when he looked at her Pidge thrust an angry finger into his face. "He hasn't changed at all! He's still...still...that!"

Coran gave her an incredulous huff, "Well, of course, he is! I haven't really given him anything."

"You couldn't have bothered to mention that sooner?!"

"Science!" Coran beamed down at her, not looking guilty in the slightest. Pidge would've punched him if he hadn't walked past her then. "Believe it or not but I do need you around to gain some reactions from Keith. He seems to be reacting the strongest towards you for some strange reason."

"I'm not a guinea pig!" Pidge snapped, whirling around only to find Keith out of the room and peering at the vast lines of equipment all around with some curiosity. She flushed pink but charged onwards, annoyed. Coran approached Keith and handed him clean clothes and his boots.

"Here you are, Keith!" Coran announced warmly. "Got your clothes all cleaned up. You're welcome!"

Keith perked up, swiftly saying thanks before he took the stack of clothes with a look of obvious relief. Pidge threw her hands in the air.

"That's it," she called as she spun on her heels. "I'm telling Allura."

"Now just a tick!" Coran exclaimed and hurried to intercept her. "There is no need for that, just a moment!" He stopped just in front of Pidge, easing his hands up in a pleading gesture. Pidge stared up at him with a heated glare, crossing her arms and awaited a response. Coran visibly deflated, arms hanging down as he sighed. "Oh alright, here's the deal. The chemical weapon you've been helping me research is something I've been meaning to get back into creating. I came up with the idea prior to Zarkon's treason and now I feel like it's a better option in this war."

"Okay, how?" Pidge asked, throwing a wary glance over her shoulder to hope Keith hadn't snuck up on her. What she saw instead was the full length of Keith's naked body from behind as he dropped the robe from around his body to the floor. She slapped a hand to her eyes and looked away with a gasp. " _Keith!"_

"Yes, lovely?" was Keith's good-natured reply from his side of the lab.

" _What_ are you doing?!"

Had she been looking, she would've seen him turn around with a perplexed expression. "Uh...I'm changing? Why? Did you want a peek?"

"Ugh, forget I asked!" Pidge growled beneath her breath, cursing everything she could think of. Coran, thankfully, launched back into his explanation without preamble.

"Pidge, the purpose of this is to create a means to turn enemies into allies." Pidge dropped her hand from her eyes to meet Coran's sincere expression. "The serum I intend to engineer would allow any species to become persuaded into our side. One dose would be enough to change the perception of loyalties, in a way. Just think how much easier missions could become if next time we bumped into a Galra general and only needed a single spray to convince them not only to cease fire but to join our endeavor in stopping Zarkon."

Pidge frowned and blinked uncertainly. "Wait, so... that's why you're making all this? To gain more allies?"

"We _need_ more allies," Coran's voice was tipped with an edge was not expecting. "We've been fighting a war against an empire built on stolen millennia for a little less than four years. Voltron has saved many people but to dismantle an empire that was been raging for ten thousand years is something that requires any and all possible advantages. This might be one of them."

"Alright, I get it," Pidge sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose again. "But, Coran, we can't cut corners like this. I shouldn't have to tell you that. There's a process to science, there has to be organization and control over everything we do so that things like _that_ ," she gestured wildly in Keith's direction over her shoulder, "Don't happen again. Our biggest priority right now should be fixing Keith. I can't think of a less convincing case for this approach than having him acting like a lusty playboy as our only evidence the serums work."

"Fair enough, I promise to find a way to get him back to normal," Coran said, nodding. "But...I must ask a favor before then."

Pidge narrowed her eyes, lips thinning into a slim line. "Coran..."

"Just," he said, wedging his hands together to plead. "Just let me keep studying him, as he is--just for a few days!"

"--Coran,  _no_ \--"

"--Just so I can get enough information about how to fix the serum and make sure that it's modified properly! I mean we can't exactly have any potential Galra spies fall in love with us, can we?"

Pidge's eyes widened to the size of saucers, "In love?!"

Coran winced, "That's not to say that this is what's happening right now. I just need to study him!"

"That's all easier said than done, Coran!" Pidge said, shaking her head. "But you're basically asking me to let this go on for days. What about the rest of the team? The risk of suspicion won't be a matter of if but when. Besides, Shiro said he wants to run drills today!"

Coran gave a quick thumbs up, "Not to worry! The Castle is still pretty glitchy here and there. I'm sure I can probably mess with the Lion hanger to buy some time."

"Alright, but what about everything else?" Pidge insisted. "At some point, someone's going to come looking for Keith."

"Who's going to come looking for me?"

Pidge jumped, spinning around to come face-to-face with Keith for the second time. To her slow relief, he didn't attempt to lean in for a kiss or anything, but his gaze was still overly syrupy with affection. It made her stomach wobble with nerves.

"Could you not do that?" Pidge grunted, taking a conscientious step away. Keith grinned at her and Pidge was torn between kicking him and socking him in the arm. Instead, he winked at her and Pidge glared at him.

"How are you feeling, Keith?" Coran asked, smiling again. Pidge wanted to punch him too. Keith cocked his head, pressing a hand on his hip.

"Fine. What's going on?" he asked, throwing a few glances between Pidge and Coran. Coran cleared his throat, crossing his arms behind his back.

"Nothing really! I was just wondering, Keith, what you think of our dear Pidge!"

Pidge shot Coran an alarmed look, eyebrows knitting with outrage. "What in the hell--"

"I think she's amazing," Keith answered promptly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The bluntness of his statement was enough to silence Pidge in a wave of speechlessness. She stared up at him as her hands fell to her sides. Keith's cheeks flushed a little pink and he gave her another smile.

"I mean, I kinda always thought that... but it wasn't until recently that I realized just how amazing she is. I'm crazy about her," he added with a dreamy sigh.

Pidge stuck her fingers under her glasses, pressing hard against her eyes as she groaned with embarrassment.

"How recently was it that you've come to this realization?" Coran asked, and Pidge did actually throw a swift kick at his shins. Coran let out a howl of pain, falling to his feet to cradle his wounded leg. Pidge whirled around and grabbed Keith around the wrist before yanking him along. She stormed off, rage licking fire against her cheeks and ears with an intensity that would've tossed steam out her ears. Her mind narrowed into a single thought; if this had to happen, she needed to make sure it was done under her conditions.

Pidge grumbled under her breath as she slammed a keycode on the lab's main panel and the doors slid open. "Come on," she grunted at Keith and proceeded to tug him out of the room, ignoring Coran's feeble whines over being ambushed and kicked viciously.

To her relief, Keith said nothing as he followed her heated walk and she took the rare moment of silence to focus on what she was going to say. They walked through a long hallway before turning a corner and stopped at a dead end. Pidge dropped Keith's wrist as soon as she was sure they were out of eyesight and faced him with a scowl.

"Alright, I need to make this perfectly clear," Pidge began, lifting a hand to gain his attention. It was unnecessary, judging by how he was staring at her with open eyes and that stupid smile of his. "Stop it."

"Stop what?" Keith asked innocently.

"That." Pidge pointed at his face. "The smiling stuff. I don't like it. It's weird and creepy and, frankly, it's disturbing. Now, we need to lay some ground rules if we're to make this work."

Keith's smile spread into a smirk, "I'm listening."

"Ugh, not like  _that_ , God," Pidge rolled her eyes. "You're actually worse than Lance, right now and that should be pretty much impossible."

Pidge shook her head, grabbing him by the shoulders and gave him her most serious expression. "Look, Keith. You are under the effects of a serum. A drug. What you're feeling for me right now, it's not real."

Keith frowned, deep gray eyes narrowing in displeasure. "Of course it's real. I've never felt anything more real."

"Oh, sure, it feels real, but trust me, it isn't." Pidge sighed heavily. "All this is just chemical. You aren't behaving like yourself because you drank a weird chemical solution that altered you to make you think you're feeling this way. My guess is that after drinking it, your mind must've latched on to me since I was the only person around for you to direct this change of emotion towards. In a sense, I would guess the proper term for that could be imprinting..."

Pidge paused when she saw an odd sort of dreamy gaze settle over Keith's eyes like a cloud. Pidge clicked her tongue before snapping her fingers over his face. Keith blinked before straightening, alert. Still smiling, but at least he was paying attention.

"Sorry," Keith said sheepishly. "I can't help but look at you. You're just so pretty."

"Uh-huh," Pidge replied, unimpressed. "So you've told me. Anyway, I don't know how long it'll take for Coran to come up with a cure, but I promise we're going to get you back to normal and then we can forget all this ever happened."

A look of indignation flashed over Keith's face and he crossed his arms. "Why would I want to forget this?"

Pidge rolled her weight on her heels as she sighed yet again. "Keith, you're not yourself. The Keith I know would rather be dropped into space before letting something like this happen."

"The Keith you knew was a bastard," Keith said savagely. Pidge reeled, taken aback. "He was the kind of person who only cared about himself instead of helping his team when it mattered. He was the kind of person who didn't care about your desire to find your family and tried to justify his actions instead of taking responsibility. I'm not that Keith anymore, Katie. I know that now, and this is a good thing. I'm going to make sure that everything you love and care about takes priority. I want to make things right by you and this is a great start."

"That's not true," Pidge shot back. "You're not like that, Keith. Okay, sure, you can be insensitive and frigid at times, but that's who you are."

"No," Keith shook his head. "No. Look, maybe you're right, but honestly, ever since this happened, I feel alive. More alive than I've ever felt. I'm not going back to that anymore. I just can't believe it took me this long to realize exactly how much you mean to me. I'm going to make things right and prove to you just that.'

"Don't say that," Pidge shook her head. "Keith, this is just the effects of the serum. It'll go away once we figure out how to fix this, but for now, you've got to promise me you aren't going to try to kiss me or anything when we meet up with the team."

Keith crossed his arms, meeting her gaze with a petulant expression. "Is that what you want?" 

The comment caught her off guard. Pidge blinked up at him in surprise before she nodded. Keith inhaled and sighed slowly. "Fine, but this isn't going to change how I feel about you."

Pidge's head fell backward as she groaned. "Keith, how many times do I have to say it?"

A pair of hands suddenly gripped to her jaw gently and Pidge stiffened as Keith tilted her chin to face him. In his gaze was a fiery persistence that Pidge recognized, a horrid sort of stubbornness she didn't really want to deal with. But, there was also a sincerity in his gaze that stopped her mind from escaping any further and that was almost as frightening as having him be so close and cause her heart to race the way it did then.

"I mean it, Katie," he said, voice lowered to a whisper. "So long as there's a heart inside me, it will beat for no one else but you."

Pidge threw her hands up just before Keith could lean in and attempt to kiss her again, cupping the sides of his jaw firmly. She was not going to give him another chance to kiss her hands again and leave her smoldering in embarrassment and fire.

"Will you please just listen to me?!" Pidge said, exasperated. "Ugh, look. Just do this for me. Please, at least don't try to kiss me in front of everyone. Don't compliment me. Don't  _flirt_ with me, either. Anything that makes you want to engage in the sappy and the touchy-feely is off the table. If you can do all that, then I'll...consider it. But you have to behave!"

Keith perked up, lips spreading into a grin. "Alright, that sounds like a plan."

"Good," Pidge said. "And not a word to anyone about the serum. Until Coran and I can figure this out further, you have to promise not to tell a soul."

"Anything for you," Keith said, trailing his hands from her face to sink into her hair and trail her shoulders. Pidge shivered and wrenched herself away.

"I said no flirting!" Pidge said fiercely, cheeks flushing scarlet as she stormed past him. "God, you're incorrigible."

Keith shrugged and hurried after her with a bounce in his step, catching up to thread his hand around hers. Pidge yanked her hand away and socked him right in the gut in retaliation.

"None of that, too!"

Keith let out a disappointed whine but didn't make another effort to hold her hand the entire rest of the trip toward the dining hall. All Pidge could hope for now was that he would keep his hands to himself until they managed to get a better handle on the situation.

 _I'm so royally screwed._ Pidge thought with a groan.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! I've been nursing a rotten cold and have been struggling a bit. keep this in mind this is *super* cracky. so if this reads a little absurd then you've caught on. lol
> 
> Also happy thanksgiving!

When the trio arrived at the training deck, Pidge was glad to see Hunk standing near the center doing a few stretches. A brief glance exposed the lack of Lance and Allura yet Pidge didn't have to look farther than the observational deck to spot them. From where Pidge could see, Lance was making large motions with his arms while Allura tinkered with the control panel.

“Hey Hunk,” Shiro called, waving. Hunk straightened and faced them with a wide smile that became somewhat nervous when he saw Pidge and Keith walking behind Shiro.

“Uh, hey guys!” Hunk said, throwing Pidge a cautious glance. “How’s it…uh… how’s it going?”

“Fine,” Pidge said quickly, voice high. She cleared her throat before looking away. “We’re all good now so, yeah…” Hunk exchanged a quick glance with Shiro, who responded with a light shrug.

“Uh, cool,” Hunk said, if a little uncertain. Shiro shook his head with a wry smile.

“Is everything ready?”

Hunk grinned, “Almost. Lance found out that Allura was planning on using the invisible maze as a part of the obstacles and headed up there because he had _words_.”

Shiro heaved a sigh, “When does he not? Anyway, I’m gonna head up and get him down here. You two,” he motioned to Keith and Pidge. “Get started with some warm-ups. Keith, do you wanna make sure we’ve got plenty of water?”

“I’ve got all the water I need with this short glass right here,” he said, throwing Pidge a warm smirk. Pidge’s body flushed red from head to toe, mortified at the looks of surprise and even shock from both Shiro and Hunk. What followed was a very short but horrifying silence as Shiro exchanged a quick glance with Hunk. It was a split second after he opened his mouth that Pidge panicked and let out a shrill laugh that had them flinching in surprise.

“Keith, you moron!” Pidge guffawed, slamming a fist against Keith’s gut. He doubled over with a loud grunt, barely recovering before practically getting steamrolled by Pidge’s angry hands. “I’ll just—uh—go make sure he doesn’t spill anything on himself! You know him! Classic Keith! So funny…!”

Without much warning, Pidge threw all her weight against Keith's back. Her hand clamped down on his wrist and she dragged Keith away, throwing strained smiles over her shoulder at the very confused statues that Hunk and Shiro had become. They were barely out of earshot when she heard Hunk say, “What was in the world was all that about?”

Pidge bit down on her lip and gave Keith another sharp tug. He grunted, but that might’ve been a laugh had Pidge not looked so livid. They approached the opposite end of the Training deck in record time. When they did, Pidge immediately released him and tugged him behind one of the many corners of the enclosure for some privacy.

Pidge let out a growl before slamming Keith against a wall, digging a look of such profound aggravation he was momentarily struck dumb beneath its force.

“What the _hell_ are you doing?!” Pidge hissed. Keith blinked down at her in surprise. “You promised to behave!”

“Did I?” Keith asked, glancing up in thought.

“Yes!” Pidge said, throwing her hands in the air. “You did! Not even a full twenty minutes ago!”

“You know your nose gets all cute when you do that,” Keith said, sighing. Pidge bit back a scream, drawing in a deep breath before grabbing Keith by the shirt and forcing him back against the nearest wall with a thud.

“I’m only going to tell you one thing and you’re going to listen and _then_  you're going to do as I say,” she hissed lowly, “Otherwise I’m going to drag you back to Coran’s and slam you into a pod and _freeze_ you until the universe decides to blow up. _Got it?”_

Keith’s eyes widened and he nodded quickly, looking awestruck. Pidge pushed on, too irritated to read into it.

“ _No one_ , I repeat, _no one_ can know about us—this—ever. If you even so much try what you did back there with Shiro and Hunk, we are screwed. So, I'm going to make this abundantly clear," she jabbed a finger against his chest. “You mess this up and I swear to you, I’ll dump you in Coran’s office and leave him to experiment on you.”

Pidge glared up at Keith, breathing hard. His eyes stared down at her in surprise before she saw another smile leak over his face, “Wow, Katie, you’re being unusually… _dominant—_ ”

“ _Focus!!_ ” she snarled, swinging a fist towards his stomach. Keith’s hand caught her fist easily, twisting her around until her back hit the wall with a thud. The sudden switch took Pidge’s breath away, leaving her to stare up into Keith’s eyes. Her mouth went dry at the look of desire gleaming down at her.

“Alright, I’ll humor you. Let’s say I do all that,” he said, his voice a deep purr. Pidge’s heart leaped into her throat. “What’s in it for me?”

“I don’t throw you in a pod and press the eject button,” Pidge scowled. Keith’s mouth parted in a wolfish grin. One of his hands dropped from her hands to wrap around her waist bringing her in almost flush against his chest. The movement yanked an undignified squeak from her throat, yet to her relief, Keith didn’t make any additional movements. Wariness filled her stomach and she dared not make any sudden movements.

“You know I really do like it when you’re so… intense. It's doing things to me you wouldn’t even know,” Keith said. Pidge swallowed hard. “But, this is sounding really one-sided.”

Pidge drew in a shaky breath and managed to arch a brow. “You cannot be serious, right now.”

“Come on, throw me a couple of bones,” Keith said, tilting his head and Pidge was overwhelmed with an odd thought for all of two seconds. She stomped it down immediately. “I’ll do my part and behave, on one condition.”

Pidge's lips curled downwards, “I’m afraid to ask, but… fine. What is it?”

“Let me be with you,” he said and his voice was so abruptly sincere it took her by surprise. “I’ll do anything you ask if you let me stay at your side.”

“What? W-why…?” the question came out before she could stop herself. Keith’s hold on her hand slid off gently until only their fingertips were touching. His smile turned wistful and it left her reeling.

“You’re everything to me,” Keith said and if it had been any other time, Pidge would’ve rolled her eyes, groaned and kicked him off. Instead, she felt her breath catch and throat tighten. No matter what she did she just couldn't catch up. One moment she thought she might've had this new Keith figured, he'd up and do something new and different. She never thought she would think this but she honestly missed the simple routine of an angry and emotionally distant Keith. This was just getting too much.

The odd moment of silence must have registered differently for Keith, who's eyes abruptly flickered down to her mouth and stayed there. With a shiver, Pidge snapped out of it and breathed life into her arms.

Pidge gave Keith a rough shove against his chest. He let go, blinking quickly in surprise as though he had also snapped out of a trance.

“Fine,” Pidge said, averting her gaze for a moment. "You can… do that. Whatever."  Keith's expression brightened into a blinding joy. Pidge shot a hand up to stop another advance of overreaching boundaries.

"Do not misunderstand. This is only so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t do anything stupid. I swear if you—“

“I’ll behave." Keith cut in, settling into a warm grin that made the gray in his eyes twinkle. He went so far as to lift a hand in oath, "I promise."

Pidge heaved a sigh and made to turn when he swept her into his arms again, and pressed a swift kiss to her lips. Pidge stiffened, hands suspended in the air by his head.

Keith dropped her a moment after with another boyish smile and winked. “…Starting now.”

Pidge felt another flush settle deep into her skin before she threw another punch this time against his shoulder, “Quit that!”

Keith snickered but said nothing as he stepped back to give her space. Pidge let out an elongated groan, brushing past him to start getting hydration bags prepared. At the very least, he gave her some space, only approaching to help by taking the bags from her hands silently as she worked.

 _It’s just the serum,_ Pidge focused on the thought, curling her fingers tight around it until it was wedged tight between reason and logic. _He’s just behaving like this because of the serum. There's no way Keith really feels this way. Just relax. He probably has no idea what he's doing._

It was an absurd sensation; being torn between the shock his words had left and the clear knowledge that he didn’t mean any of it.

Pidge focused on easing her every breath and handed the last of the bags to Keith.

He flashed her a quick grin before turning and walking away, obviously pleased. It made her frown. It made her head hurt.

Which was ridiculous because if there was anyone Pidge knew better than herself it was Keith. Well… almost. Kind of. In the sense one would know a comrade in arms; with a mutual respect and trust.

By all accords, Keith was basically her partner. Sure, the team worked as one, like a unit and a single mind, a single thought. But much like Hunk and Lance, the two of them had to become two parts of a whole. As Voltron’s arms, she had to anticipate Keith’s attacks in tandem to her defense, just as he had to provide the right amount of back up to her quick counter-attacks. It was a step, a rhythm. Something that wasn’t easily explained.

Such a deep connection had become almost second nature and all this… this sudden lovey-dovey garbage? Acting and saying stuff like that? It threw a strange wrench into the careful cogs they have worked on together. Still there were times...times where one considered the bizarre and strange.

But in those rare moments, Pidge's mind had taken a different road. One that entertained the possibility of more with a certain leader...

Once, she had even considered Lance after a mission that left the two working together for almost a week alone. Yet, the thought only left a sour sort of feeling instead and Pidge was quick to drop it and move on.

Now... with all this...?

Pidge gathered her bearings as she trailed after him, keeping her eyes firmly on ahead as he approached Hunk, who was now accompanied by Lance.

“You guys ready to get your butts whooped?” Lance smiled that same competitive smirk he always saved for special moments where training pitted them against each other. The single sight was so familiar and grounding, Pidge felt a strange calm overcome her. Even after four years, Lance will always be snark and cheeky Lance.

“You ready to cash in all those wolf tickets?” Keith shot back, tossing a few bags in their direction. Lance’s grin widened, catching a bag effortlessly. Hunk fumbled with his lightly.

“Oh, this cat’s got way more bite than bark,” Lance said haughtily, jabbing a thumb against his chest. He glanced over at Pidge and winked. “Get ready to mop the floor with your tears!”

"As if," Pidge said, blowing hair through tight lips. "Also, pretty sure you said that wrong."

Lance puffed his chest out, "We'll see about that, won't we?"

“Everyone ready?” Shiro’s voice filtered through. The group turned to look up at the observational deck and spotted both Shiro and Allura watching over them.

“Alright, guys, we’re going to start up at a pretty simple level. The purpose of this is not to see which team finishes fastest, but the smartest.”

A large hologram grid appeared overhead, splitting the training deck into quadrants of different invisible obstacles. Pidge’s mind was grateful for the distraction, catching on to various routes and angles to approach the test.

“This particular test is effective in its ability to draw out clean communication from your teammate,” Allura’s voice came over the speakers. “Make sure not to get distracted and help your teammate through the obstacles. With every success, the challenges will get harder to solve, so stay calm and do your best, Paladins!”

“Hold on, aren’t you going to come down, Shiro?” Hunk pointed out.

“Once you guys rotate, Allura and I will come down as a separate team,” Shiro responded. “More to add pressure than anything.”

“Uh-huh,” Lance said, voice loud and flat. “Suuuure.”

"Lance," Shiro's voice sounded tired. "We've told you, nothing happened--"

“Good luck!” Allura cut in before the speakers gave a small click. Pidge rolled her eyes and began stretching her arms, imagining Shiro glaring down at Lance from his perch.

“Jeez, you’re still going on about that?” Pidge asked Lance, shaking her head. “You know, they aren’t actually dating.”

“Oh, give it time, trust me.” Lance rolled his eyes as he cracked his knuckles and bounced a little on the balls of his feet. “When it comes to matters of romance and the sway of a lovely lady’s heart, I know a thing or two.”

Hunk, Pidge, and Keith let out chorusing groans. Lance stiffened, and glared at them with an insulted huff. “Oh, harr, harr. You guys doubt me but I know what I’m about. The tension between those two? It’s going to snap one day and it’ll either end in a rough night of passion or a hot mess, mark my words!”

“We can still _hear_ you, Lance.” Shiro’s voice boomed over them, annoyed. A low humming noise picked up as the maze ahead activated.

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Shiro—AH!!” Lance suddenly toppled backward, legs thrown out from under him. A rectangular hologram disappeared from where it randomly appeared after Lance fell. Hunk let out a boisterous laugh.

“Good luck!” Allura's voice chirped and the feed was cut as a series of holograms began to manifest all around them in all shapes and sizes. Pidge took in the sight before feeling a light tap to her shoulder. She glanced up and spotted Keith gazing down at her, determined. The odd sensation that took her when he had gazed down at her earlier returned with a vengeance.

“Ready?”

Her lips pressed into a wobbly line and she gave him a quick nod. “Y-yeah.”

Keith grinned at her again, and the sensation became a single thought. Keith turned and slid his jacket off his arms before tossing it towards where they had their things. Pidge watched as he began rolling his neck and stretching his arms, exposing the curve of his throat and pronounced bulge of his muscles. Pidge pursed her lips and shook her head.

_Focus._

Yet even after they rushed in and began working together, falling into an easy synchronization that was almost second nature, the thought persisted. It gathered strength the more the memory grew boldness.

The memory of how his eyes had shone and how his lips, slightly pink and kiss stung, curled upwards right at her. Pidge had become overcome with a single thought.

… _Pretty._

* * *

 "I'm not doing it."

Coran's pouty expression didn't ease up even after Pidge looked away to run a hand through her long hair. "It hasn't even been a full day!"

"I don't care," Pidge said as she removed her glasses and tossed them on the nearest table. They clattered sharply on the metal surface. "It's impossible. This serum has turned him into a friggin lunatic, Coran! He keeps wanting to touch me, he's saying the most absurd--most ridiculous--things to me, and he flirts worse than Lance! What's worse, he's made me agree to a stupid demand when my guard was down."

"Your guard was down?" Coran asked with a light scoff. "You?

Pidge shot him her darkest glower and Coran wilted slightly before shaking his head. He turned to gaze over some information on a large hologram monitor. "Where is he now? I thought he'd be right behind you hanging off your arm."

"Shiro asked him to stay behind after training," Pidge muttered.

"You sure that's wise?" Coran hummed. "Leaving him alone?"

"I kept an eye on him for a minute after..." Pidge said and crossed her arms. "Besides, Shiro closed the door, it's not like I could listen in."

Coran shot her an incredulous look. Pidge bristled at his silent question. "Alright, fine! So I ran! Can you blame me? Every moment with him has been weird and stressful as hell! I needed some time to think after that stupid training exercise."

Pidge neared the closest empty table space and laid down on it, face up. She let out a thin sigh and closed her eyes to listen to Coran tinker and fiddle with his lab equipment.

"And how did that go?"

"It was fine," Pidge replied shortly. "Just freaking peachy. Lucky for us, Keith can still be reasoned with... even if his demands are ridiculous."

"Oho? Meaning...?"

Pidge picked at a long lock of brown hair and found figures in the flat curve of the ceiling, "Meaning, our secret is still safe and I was able to keep him on a leash. We passed the training test with flying colors so at least that didn't end in a disaster."

There was a moment of silence before a soft clatter drew Pidge's attention back up. Coran had grabbed a vial filled with what looked like human blood, peering at it with a look of surgical calculation. He plunged a syringe-like object into the vial and several readings appeared in altean just over the measuring object.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting some more information from Keith's blood!" Coran replied brightly, placing the vial over a rack and turning around to type rapidly into a monitor. "I was able to get some samples while we had him in his pod. It shouldn't take much time for me to get the results."

Pidge sat up eagerly, "How much time?"

"Just a few...ticks," Coran said before turning around and beaming at her. "Well, I've got good news and bad news!"

Pidge blinked up at him, staring before lurching to her feet in one swift, jerky movement. "Already?"

"Of course! It only took a little while." Coran exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Now, The good news! The serum didn't leave any life-threatening effects in his system so as far as we're concerned, he'll be okay! Everything is working as it should! The downside is that, so far, his neurological responses haven't shown any sign of...uh...letting up. Seems like the one good thing that came out of this endeavor is that the serum does as it's supposed to!"

Pidge scratched at the back of her head, "Hold on... So... what, are you saying that this is..." her faced went pale.

"Well, yes, basically... it's permanent," Coran said and at Pidge's horrified expression he quickly pressed a palm to her shoulder. "But only temporarily!"

"Nothing can be permanent temporarily!" Pidge exclaimed, slapping Coran's hand away.

"Now, hold on, let me explain," Coran waved his hands in a calming gesture. Pidge started pacing anxiously, growling under her breath and running her hands through her hair until it stuck out in odd angles.

"Just sit still for a moment! ...Thank you. Now, the way the serum has settled into his system has left his brain activity focused on a single thing--which is you. However, based on the information I received, it's possible that if we were to administer the right amount of shock, his mind will revert to its previous settings, if you will."

"Okay then," Pidge said, brightening up with a wild look. "Let's get him in here! I'll go find some paddles, maybe some jumper cables if I can find any--"

Coran took a wide step in her way, raising his hands to stop her. "Not that kind of shock, I'm afraid. This is an entirely emotional change. It would need to be a large emotional shock for it to work."

He heaved a sigh at Pidge's confused expression. "You see, the way the drug works is, it focuses on switching emotional response, amplifying good-feel emotions such as happiness, affection, and friendliness, to a point. Administered to a Galra militant, say, and it would allow the Galra to view us as long time friends rather than an enemy. In the case of someone like me, for instance--or rather, like the mice--we would've seen a similar reaction. However, it appears you humans are much,  _much_ more susceptible to this particular drug..."

Pidge sighed and snapped her fingers, bringing Coran's rambling to an end. " _Coran."_

"Right," Coran pulled at his mustache and cleared his throat. "As I was saying, the shock must be an emotional one. Big enough to shut him down for a bit. Disconnect, as you'd say."

"Shock Keith?" Pidge stared up at him with an incredulous frown. "Can't you just engineer a new drug? Something that could counteract it? I thought we agreed that's what we were going to do."

"That's still the plan, but you must understand, Pidge," Coran sighed. "None of this was precedented. I had no idea Keith would've taken the serum, let alone react to it to such a powerful degree. I've had to adjust information in ways I didn't expect! The only bright side is the new data I was able to compile about earthling biology... Also, I was thinking an awful lot about what you've said. This is my fault--"

Pidge made a grunt in the affirmative.

"--because you were right. I did cut corners..." Coran's expression crinkled with guilt and remorse. "So if we are to fix this mess then I want to make sure we do it the right way."

Pidge let out a sigh through her nose, nodding slowly. "How long?"

Coran's lips tightened into a line, "It could be a few hours, maybe even a few days. I'd need to make sure."

The news made Pidge ball her hands into fists at her side and she glared down at the floor. "Well, you're going to need help making sure all the data is right...Hunk must've finished the program to run the numbers by now, I'll talk to him and then get working on it."

"Actually, no," Coran shook his head. "You have to stay with Keith."

Pidge's cheeks faded white, "But--"

"Pidge," Coran insisted, and the look on his face was irrefutable. Pidge searched his face for a sign of weakness, anything she could use to convince him otherwise. Yet all she saw was a confirmation of what she already knew. He was right. And he knew she knew he was right. Pidge drew in a sharp breath and rubbed her temples with stiff fingers.  _Damn._

"UGH, okay," Pidge said, deflated. "I'll work on figuring out how to 'shock' Keith back to normal in the meantime... but you  _will_ find a cure, right?"

Coran gave her a smile and nodded, "I will make it my top priority. Besides, you should probably go find him... it's been almost a full half of an earth hour."

"Quiznak," Pidge swore as she dragged a hand over her face. With a grunt, she swiped her glasses back from the table surface before she hurried toward the door. She stopped just a few feet short, throwing a glance back at Coran. "Are you absolutely  _sure_ I have to do it? Why can't we just throw him in the--"

" _Pidge."_

"Ugh,  _alright!_ " She huffed before turning around. The panel lit up and the door hissed open and Pidge uttered one final curse before rushing off down the hall in search of the one person she most wanted to avoid.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! You wouldn't believe the wall I hit earlier... plus with the whole Kidge Manga I'm working on... yeah. ONWARDS

_A shock, huh?_

Pidge nibbled on her lower lip as she made her way down the hall. The thought persisted in her mind, spinning webs of ideas that didn't quite coagulate into anything conclusive. Sure, Coran made it sound easy, but the more she thought about it, the more her mind drew a blank. What did that even mean, an emotional shock?

How does one emotionally shock someone?

How does one emotionally shock  _Keith?_

He wasn't exactly the most emotionally sensitive guy in the universe, serum aside. His behavior, while definitely more touchy-feely and prone to spontaneous confessions of (obviously fictitious) love and affection, had not changed so much that he had become faint hearted. If anything, one could argue that the sudden flux of these heartfelt confessions was proof of an emotional growth rather than an increase in sensitivity. But even that sounded ridiculous. Then again...

"Aaaaghh," Pidge growled lowly, reaching up to dig her fingers into her hair and furiously rub against her scalp. None of this was making sense! This abrupt touchy-feely garbage was leaving her squirming in all kinds of ways. It was obnoxious as hell.

Pidge shook her head,  _focus._ Concentrating on the bane of her life was providing no answers. She had to stop focusing on the problem. How would she be able to provide the adequate shock to get anywhere?

Perhaps if she ignored him? No. She knew how he got when he got ignored. The past month had been proof that Keith didn't take the cold shoulder very well, especially when he felt it wasn't well deserved. This new Keith wouldn't be any different.

What if she slapped him?

...Yeah, no way. Best case scenario he'd probably cry a little. Worst case scenario, he'd be into it. 

The thought shot a shudder through her spine. Pidge shook her head ever harder at  _that_ new image. Moving on...

What could she do? It would have to be exactly out of the ballpark. (Or was it the left field?)--Out of nowhere. Something he wouldn't expect in a million years. Something he wouldn't see coming. But what?

"Hey."

Pidge's body jolted sharply with a start as she let out a tight shriek of surprise. She looked to her left, eyes wide and heart ramming hard against her chest, when she spotted Keith leaning up against the nearest wall, staring down at her with profound amusement and a doting smile. It was almost smug how he looked, elbow up against the wall and body situated in a cool lean. Pidge's heart settled with a squeeze of annoyance. She was going to kill him one day.

"Could you  _please_ refrain from doing that?!" Pidge said, growling through her teeth and clenching her fingers into claws in his direction. Keith's lips parted in that same boyish grin.

"I couldn't help it," Keith said, snickering. "You were so lost in thought you didn't notice me say 'hi' the first time."

Pidge blinked a few times before rolling her eyes. "Whatever," she huffed and gave him a more serious expression. "How'd it go with Shiro?"

"Fine," Keith shrugged, leaning away from the wall. Thankfully, he didn't push the space between them too close. Still, that didn't stop her from glancing around them. This part of the hallway was nearer to the Kitchen space and had the most foot traffic. "We just talked about some new techniques and stuff."

Pidge shot him a look, "That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it. Unless..." Keith winked at her with a sly smile as he turned to walk in the direction of the kitchen. "You want me to go make sure."

Pidge's face fell and her hand shot out to catch him by the wrist. "No, no, it's fine. Don't do that."

Keith's smile broadened when she realized she had stepped closer to him to keep him from doing anything rash. A shiver traveled through her body and Pidge stepped away brusquely.

"On second thought, maybe I should go find Shiro and ask. You're not exactly yourself right now."

"I'm exactly myself," Keith said. A scowl cut through his syrupy happy expression at her comment and, quite honestly, it surprised her. It was such an honest  _Keith_ expression she didn't know how to react. But just as quickly as it came it was gone. Keith's face melted back into another look of affection that had Pidge looking away. Still, a new thought came over her and she couldn't help but wonder...

Pidge drew in a breath and stepped a little closer. Keith's eyes widened a fraction and his attention became razor sharp, smile fading a little. The scrutiny shot a wobble of uncertainty through Pidge's stomach, but she clenched her fists at her sides.

"How..." she began, taking another step until she was a mere foot away. Keith made no effort to pull away and his expression was oddly blank save a carefully placed look of composure.

"How much of...yourself... would you say you feel like?" Pidge asked. Keith tilted his chin, staring back innocently.

"Enough. Better than ever... am I having deja vu or...?"

Pidge frowned and the little seed of determination hardened into certainty. She leaned a little closer, meeting his gaze with a fierce expression that made Keith pull away a little. She had half expected him to reach up and wrap his arms around her. Pulling away had to be a sign, right? What if she was right? What if somewhere in this changed Keith was the old, familiar Keith? Is this what Coran had meant when she said she should try shocking him? Snapping him out of this like a trance? Could she be able to bring him back out?

It was rather abrupt how her mind clung to this new scenario and ran with it. The idea took off and a new series of considerably possible opportunities began to manifest in Pidge's mind. She didn't know exactly what this meant, but she could already feel the beginnings of a plan take place. 

"Katie...?" Keith said softly, voice equally apprehensive if also a bit encouraging. Pidge's teeth dug down over her lower lip again. She needed more evidence.

"I'm going to my workstation," Pidge said finally. "Seeing as I made a promise so long as you behave... you can tag along."

Keith's lips parted slightly before curling upwards into a pleased grin. "Can't get enough of me, huh."

A hot flush leaked over Pidge's cheeks and she swatted at him. "Don't get the wrong idea. This doesn't make me see you as anything less than a nuisance right now. This is just mutually beneficial. I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do anything stupid. ...And you can stay by my side or whatever. It's all symbiotic. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Right," Keith nodded before swinging an arm in the other direction. "By all means, lead the way."

Pidge's eyebrows fell into a displeased look but she said nothing further as she turned and began to walk the familiar route from the kitchen area to the crystal hangar where her stuff was. If she was right, she would need to run a few tests. A sly glance over her shoulder showed Keith followed after her with a wide grin on his face. Ugh, she never thought she'd miss Keith's typical sullen expression more than now. At the very least, this enthusiastic Keith would be a much more well-behaved guinea pig.

 

* * *

It was kind of an obvious thing that Hunk didn't usually initiate anything remotely confrontational--unless it was a pretty big deal. Like stepping up for the team in life or death situations. He wasn't entirely certain this was one of those. So he didn't really know whether or not to put his foot down when Lance yanked him along in this little investigation.

All he could do was occasionally pipe in with the typical, "Lance, come on, think about what you're doing. We shouldn't be getting involved in the first place, let's just go back and pretend we didn't see anything?"

Of course, Lance would either naturally reply with, "Hunk, you're a grown man," or, "Come on, aren't you the  _least_ bit curious?"

"Well...yeah but--"

"Then I don't see anything wrong with getting to the bottom of this," Lance told him, picking up his pace as they rounded a corner. The route was familiar enough that Hunk broke out into a sweat.

"Wait, we're going to Coran's?" Hunk exclaimed as he rushed a few feet ahead to throw his hands in front of Lance. Lance blinked in surprise at him. "Nuh-uh, man. We could get in trouble! I already told you we weren't supposed to ever find out about those files, much less what they're doing."

Lance heaved a sigh, "Look, this isn't just about some stupid project they're doing. We all made a pact remember? That we wouldn't keep secrets from the team. Yet, we come and find out Pidge and Coran are involved in some weird secret project and now Keith is acting bananas?"

He shook his head, fixing Hunk a stern look. "When it comes to stuff like this, it can go south and in a bad way."

"How do you mean?" Hunk straightened, lips tightening in worry.

Lance looked past Hunk and walked around him, "From what I remember, if you overdose on any of those chemicals it could lead to a lot of really bad consequences..."

Hunk followed after him, fingers clenching and unclenching at his sides nervously. A look of realization and then horror dawned over Hunk a few steps later.

"Wait, you don't think Keith may have...?"

"Keith may have what?"

Hunk and Lance shared an undignified squawk of fright, leaving Lance to leap into Hunk's arms before Hunk could think. It only took whirling around to find the source before they were met with Princess Allura's perked brow, a slightly amused smirk tilting her lips as she gazed at them expectantly.

"Princess! Uh... aren't you looking rather radiant today?" She didn't so much as acknowledge Lance's strained cheerful greeting as she did tilting her chin expectantly.

"What's going on with you two?" Hunk and Lance exchanged a swift glance that carried the weight of an entire conversation in the space of a few milliseconds (or nanoticks as the Alteans love to reiterate). The immediate consensus was unanimous. Before Allura could think to question the exchange, Lance smiled at her and swatted Hunk away as he sank back onto his feet and into a casual stance.

"Nothing!" Lance adjusted his shirt and flipped what bangs barely grazed his forehead. "My esteemed colleague and I were just discussing a potential prank we wanted to pull on our glum compatriot."

Allura's expression had long gone flat with suspicion, "Lance."

"What Lance means to say," Hunk intervened quickly. "Is that we're worried Keith may have... figured out this...this prank, before we could pull it off."

"Uh-huh," Allura's lip curled, unconvinced. "So none of this has to do with some sort of project I swear I heard you two talk about?"

Hunk's stomach expanded into a pit of nerves. Lance, ever the suave one, blew air through tight lips in a dismissive gesture. "Project? What project? There's no project! Unless you're talking about our pranking...project, then yeah, I guess you could say that it has  _something_ to do with it."

Allura tapped a slim finger over her lower lip in thought, keeping her blue gaze critical. Hunk desperately hoped he wasn't sweating too visibly.

"You two aren't hiding anything from me, are you?"

"Why-why would we?" Hunk's attempt to imitate Lance's casual stance and lean on a wall left him stumbling over his own feet. "We've got nothing to hide!"

"Right," Allura hummed and glanced between them for an uncomfortably long moment. Hunk was certain she was going to press until they broke and it was scaring him how close he was to spilling everything.  _God, I hate secrets. Why does this have to happen to me? I can't freaking stand keeping secrets. Craaap, she knows--of course she knows! oh man, Pidge's gonna kill me--_

"Alright then."

Hunk's stomach slingshot its way back into his body, leaving him almost nauseous with confusion and a wary relief. Allura shook her head, the silver locks of hair that framed her face swayed a little. "If you insist, then I'll just move along. I wanted to let you two know that we're going to be arriving at a rebel station to stock up on some supplies possibly tomorrow. Since our last skirmish with Zarkon's forces a month ago, we'll also need to do a few light repairs when we land. If you would do me the favor of passing the word along?"

Lance and Hunk tripped over each other's words in affirmation, unleashing a cacophony of agreements and promises to do just as ordered. Allura beamed up at them and there was nothing convincing about it that let Hunk hope she bought their little white lie at all.

"Good work during today's exercise, Paladins," Allura said as an after thought, gliding past them as gracefully as she always did. "Please make what preparations you need for when we disembark!"

"Will do!" Lance waved at Allura's retreating figure before slapping his hand over his face. He let out a gurgling groan that bled into a sigh after he looked at Hunk. A moment later, he swung an arm around Hunk's neck and tugged him in the opposite direction until he was sure they were out of Allura's range.

"She should know." Lance's voice lowered, eyes sharp as he fixed Hunk a certain gaze. "We should ask her."

"Wha--are you kidding me?" Hunk recoiled harshly from Lance's hold, scowling. "We can't do that!"

"Well, why not, Hunk?" Lance settled on crossing his arms. "If there is some super secret project, don't you think Allura would have a clue? Do you think she and Coran even know about how this stuff affects human biology?"

"I'm not going to do that, Lance." Hunk stood firm beneath scrutiny. "I promised Pidge that I wasn't going to snoop and I already broke that promise. I'm not going to go and meddle into this any more than I should."

"And what if Keith is involved?" Lance's eyes gleam dangerously, lips curled down in an expression that cut the easiness and play out of his demeanor. "What if he or Pidge receive this--this serum, huh? Don't you think it's dangerous enough as it is? This stuff is capable of ruining someone's mind, Hunk."

"We don't know that..." Hunk shook his head, yet he couldn't help the thought that occurred then. He wiped his palms on his shorts despite wearing gloves. "Look, we don't have the full story. We can't just barge into something that isn't our business to begin with and stir up trouble based on a hunch--which, sure, I get it, isn't something I'd usually say, but I'm serious. I just say, let sleeping dogs lie, Lance."

It was Lance's turn to shake his head, releasing a disgusted sigh. "I'm not satisfied with this. You can go and hide and do what you want then, but I'm going to find out."

At that, Lance turned and continued his assertive march in the direction of Coran's office, leaving Hunk to chase after his heels. "Lance,  _please_ , what if we do get into big trouble? Do you really want to deal with an angry Allura? or Pidge? or even worse, and angry Pidge and Allura? That's a death wish, man! Lance... Lance! UGH, Alright, alright!"

Lance slowed down as Hunk hurried in front of him, hands up to stop him from going any further. "Let's go and figure this out... but let's do it right, okay?"

"How do you propose we do that, then?" Lance cocked a brow. Hunk's lower teeth pressed up into his upper lip before he sighed. _Sorry,_ _Pidge._

"Let's go ask Shiro...?"

Lance's expression flattened out. "You don't want to tell Allura, but you want to ask Shiro? That's like...basically the same thing, Hunk. They're pretty much attached at the hip,  _if you know what I--"_

"I get it," Hunk snapped, mentally slapping the images Lance brought to mind. He shuddered, body shivering with disgust. "Dude, you're so gross. But, maybe it's safer that way. I'm sure if we convince Shiro well enough to keep quiet he will. He'll at the very least be able to give us a third opinion. That way we can make the right choice without charging into something headfirst that could leave us in a pod until the universe explodes."

Lance stared at him for a moment before shrugging and letting out a snort. "Alright, but you do realize involving Shiro is expanding the radius of the target you'll have on your head, right? Pidge would for sure kill you. I'm just saying if we involve Allura, and she  _does_ know about this, then we've got less damage control to deal with."

"And if she doesn't?" Hunk deadpanned.

"Then Coran can take the shot to the head," Lance announced triumphantly, grinning widely. "Less murder on us!"

"Pidge would still definitely murder us," Hunk rubbed a hand around his neck, swallowing thickly. "Okay, fine. Let's just... try to figure out our options first before we go and whistle-blow the whole thing. Can we at least do that?"

A sly smirk slid over Lance's face, lifting his gaze into one of devious contemplation. "Are you suggesting a recon mission? Dead of night? Shadow ninjas?"

Hunk pursed his lips at the mention of an old nickname for a mission they once worked together. His mind considered the angles and placed them side by side until it gave him a better route and picture for how the ending could go.

"You know what? Yeah," Hunk said with a nod. It was the only option to satisfy Lance's unquenchable thirst for solving this great conspiracy and would allow them enough safety on the side from being massacred by Allura's hands (if she truly was not in the know) or surgically ripped apart by Pidge's wrath (which was inevitable if they barge in just like that). "Shadow ninjas."

Lance clapped an arm back around Hunk's shoulders and tugged him ahead, "Shadow ninjas! Alright, let's go set up our plan of attack! Tonight...!" Lance jabbed a finger in the direction of Coran's office. "We make our stealthy attack operation."

"Yay..."

"Perk up, buddy. You're depressing me."

 


	6. Chapter 6

_"How's it going? Any changes?"_

Pidge really wished that she didn't have Coran's voice yammering questions in her ear every five minutes. As it goes with all kinds of new territories, Pidge had her method of handling things. Routine, in special cases such as this one (is special even the right word?  _aberrant_ fits better), was Pidge's way of composing her plan of action. Leaping back into the project Coran had all but sworn her into secrecy was the best thing to do while he worked on his end to fix the situation. Most people take a while to get into the rhythm of things, they need immersion time. Time for their minds to focus on a single focus. Not Pidge. She didn't waste time trying to gather her thoughts when the situation was ideal. She merely had to sit, turn her tech on, and jump right into the flow of numbers, science, and mathematics.

This time... this aberrant of a situation... it's not even allowing her to make sense of the numbers and code in front of her.

"It's fine, Coran," Pidge ground out under her breath for the upteenth time, fighting off a twitch from forming on her left eyelid. She tossed a sly glance over her shoulder where Keith sat in a chair nearby... very, very nearby. It had been a  _fight_ to get him to agree to sit a respectable distance (the idiot actually tried to convince her to let her sit on his lap while she worked. There was no way in  _hell_ that was happening). After having to smack him off for the seventh time from draping himself over her as she worked--or  _attempted to_ anyway--Keith finally seemed to get the memo and sat in a nearby chair. 

As expected, he was still pouting, twirling that special dagger/sword of his with deft fingers. What was surprising was how he had thrown himself on the chair, practically spilling off the edge as he glared into the distance and his lips continued to pucker in that childish way that was reminiscent of Lance throwing a tantrum. And now he was nibbling on his lower lip again, making the line of his mouth wobble in aggravated little waves. ...And there starts the bored popping.

Pidge's shoulders knotted with tension as she witnessed Keith's lips tighten then bounce with light  _pops_. He absolutely  _knew_ she hated it when he did that. Trying to distract her of course. Still, this was a better alternative to him trying to sneak close enough to her that he was cuddling at her side as she worked. He had actually managed to get far enough in that he was almost fully pressed against her side before she pressed a palm to his cheek (which he kissed cheekily) and shoved. Glancing away from Keith's irritating mouth, Pidge lifted a hand to rub damp fingers against her temple. 

"How about you? Any luck?"

_"Well, I've been able to find a means to recreate the serum, if that's worth noting. Still, it's mostly a shot in the dark. However! Based on the sample of Keith's blood, I've been able to further understand how he's being altered. It's not much but I do have a request."_

"Anything," Pidge grumbled and leaned back on her chair, letting her eyes fall from her computer screen and to slyly glance back over at Keith. He was still making popping sounds with his lips.

_"Well, you took off with Keith earlier and I wasn't able to do the tests I wanted. I'll need you to bring him back around."_

"Awesome!" Pidge perked up, reaching up to close her laptop when Coran's voice stopped her.

_"However, it'll have to be later tonight."_

Pidge scowled, "Why?"

_"It'll be easier to deal with him with no one around to burst in at a moment's notice! In the meanwhile, just keep him close until it's time. I'll advise you."_

It was Pidge's turn to pout. She didn't bother responding as a faint little click in her ear was enough to let her know Coran was finally out of her head. Pidge let loose a sigh and closed her eyes for a moment. There was a sensation in her chest that felt much like a big angry scribble. The kind kids do when they're drawing on paper and are feeling angry. The kind she did when she couldn't understand a code or when Matt would give her a computer task too great for her pre-pubescent mind back on Earth. Back then it was somewhat relieving to scrape lead over a paper in a fit of frustration. Seeing every wandering thought collide and spin and swirl together in lines of black was oddly soothing.

Only now the scribble wasn't on a paper but churning and writhing in the space beneath her ribs.

At least it was quiet, Pidge considered.

...

too quiet.

Wait... what happened to the popping so--

"What're you thinking about?" A brush of warm air coiled around her ear just as she heard Keith's voice tickle her neck in a deep register.

Pidge scrambled off her chair to land in a flustered heap on the ground, cheeks flushing a bright pink. She whipped around, glaring viciously in Keith's direction. To no one's surprise, he was staring down at her innocently with a pleased smile spreading those stupid lips of his.  _Stupid, Pidge!_ She thought irately.  _Of all things, and you go an lower your guard while he's still around. Nice going, Pidge._

_Shut up, Pidge._

"How not to kill you," Pidge replied to Keith's question with a snap. "I told you to behave while I was working!"

Keith's face dropped into another petulant pout, "I'm  _bored_ , Katie. And besides, you weren't working. Technically, I didn't break any rules."

"Stop calling me that!"

Keith's eyebrows rose in surprise and confusion. "Call you what?"

Pidge tore her gaze away as she stood up, dusting herself off despite there being no dirt around to brush off. " _That._ I don't like you calling me that."

"What, _Katie?_ " Keith reiterated, sounding curious.

She turned a tense glare at a spot on the floor, the scribble in her chest growing darker. "Yeah. That. You never called me that before. It's weird."

He was quiet for a moment. Long enough that Pidge couldn't help but look at him to see what sparked this abrupt silence. She half expected him to look put off or disappointed, but his eyes were focused on the ground ahead and his mouth pulled a little in that way it always did when he was considering something.

"Hm... you're right," he said finally. Then his eyes blinked and he was meeting her gaze with a certain expression. "Katie is cute, but Pidge is way cuter."

Something like a zing shot through her, and Pidge found herself wanting to  _strangle him._ "I didn't take on that name because it was cuter, Keith!" the scribble tightened. "I left behind everything for that name! I left a mom back on earth so I could fit into my name! You think I wanted this?! I had no choice!" Pidge whirled around and punched the nearest table, yelping when her pinky got the full brunt of the blow.

Pidge spun back around, shaking her hand and turned a glare on Keith's surprised face. "Why do you have to be such an insensitive prick all the time?!"

She couldn't do this. Not anymore. It was laughable really, that she even lasted this long considering she had no patience for idiocy and nonsensical things. With a shuddering huff, Pidge turned and stormed out of the door. The air around her made a hollow sound through her ears as she widened her strides to get her away from him, away from everything, as quick as she could. The doors to the bay opened and she reached up to tug around the miniature communicator from her ear out and into her pocket. She didn't want to be near anyone now, let alone  _him._

This wasn't the first time he's done this. Said something offhanded, as if everything was supposed to work out based on how he wanted it to. Keith has always been tactless when it came to speaking his mind, and no serum was going to change that. Only this time, she didn't know how to take his stupid words and not take them literally. It was so hard to believe that this wasn't Keith, because there's no way Keith could ever say that. But his voice gave the words life, and those lips mouthed over them and made them feel more than they should.

This whole situation was so complicated. Pidge wanted to cry.

But her eyes stayed dry even after she walked the halls and found her room. They remained dry long after she threw herself on her cot and waited for the scribble to fade into something bearable.

 _"Pidge? Are you there?"_ Coran's voice sounded faint from within her pocket. Face still dug in her pillow, Pidge dug into her pocket brusquely and squeezed until the communicator was silenced. She tossed the thing over her shoulder and landed far off in her room with a soft clack. Of all damn things to lose it over, she had to lose it over this...

_Just go to sleep, Pidge._

That's right. This is all just the result of sleep deprivation and stress. She should be fine after a nap. Keith should be fine on his own for the next twenty minutes.

Just go to sleep.

Pidge clenched her eyes shut, trying to will away the thoughts of Keith and his look of surprise as she yelled at him.  _This isn't his fault, it's just the stupid serum. He'd be normal if this hadn't happened._

Sleep.

 _It's the serum's fault._ The scribble in her chest flickered and thrashed like white noise on an old screen.

Sleep.

_Just will all of it away and you'll be fine. After a nap, we'll be able to deal with Keith and how to emotionally shock him, whatever that is._

The scribble squeezed and squeezed.

_"Pidge is cuter."_

Pidge lunged away from her bed brusquely and toward her door, eyes on the floor. She hit the panel button and the door slid open with a hiss. Her eyes burned under the light of the hallway, yet even through that, she was able to see a pair of white, black, and red boots. Her throat hitched tight in surprise, but Pidge made no move.

"I'm sorry."

The scribble froze.

Pidge raised her eyes from the ground and followed up his long legs, a black T-shirt and red jacket, up to his stupid face and his stupid indigo blue eyes that were firmly placed on the ground between them. The sight was the exact same--the  _exact same_ \--to the last time he had knocked on her door, looking repentant and ready to spill everything on the floor if only to make her understand. But wait... it wasn't the same... because even then Keith had been like a sheathed blade, guarded and controlled even if he was an emotional maelstrom ready to break out.

This Keith though... he wasn't anything like that right now.

"I don't know what else to say." His voice was soft, unguarded. _Raw._  "...But I just wanted to say that at least. Pidge, I--"

The scribble in her unraveled then when he looked at her, and his eyes widened and a gasp ripped into his mouth. Before she could think, Keith stepped past the boundary of her door and into her space. His hands shot up to grab onto the sides of her face and when she felt his thumbs brush under her eyes, Pidge realized then she was crying. 

"Shit," he said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean..."

"I'm fine," Pidge recoiled, ducking her chin as the tears kept coming. Why was it hard to breathe? Suddenly it was like she was breathing too hard, but not hard enough. _Wha-what is this?_ "I'm fine. I should go take a nap. I'm just tired."

"What do you need me to do? I'll do anything, Pidge. Anything, I swear." Keith asked, but he was still so close and his presence shouldn't be weirdly comforting. But it was because he was standing so close and she could practically feel the heat radiate off him. 

Anything.

_I want the old Keith back._

"Leave me alone," she said in a tight voice and when she looked up at him, his eyes were crinkled with a pained expression. She saw his lips work, tight then loose, a wobble of a line that stretched and pulled. He took a step back without a word and Pidge's hand found the button before anything else could dare be said. The door slid shut and she pressed her forehead against it, letting the last of her tears fall past her eyes. A minute or two later, she walked to her bed and fell over it. Sleep came only a few ticks after that.

* * *

 

This was how Shiro found Keith just a minute later; with his forehead pressed against Pidge's door, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.

The sight was so bizarre that Shiro stopped mid-step to stare. It must've been a couple of ticks before the surprised faded and left nothing but a small squeeze of dismay and concern. It wasn't often he'd see Keith look so emotionally vulnerable, but the signs pointed that he must've had another fight with Pidge.  _Damn... and I thought they were finally getting along again._

With a short breath, Shiro took the last few steps to press a palm over Keith's shoulder. He didn't respond but he didn't have to. Shiro knew he was listening.

"Hey," Shiro said gently. "Wanna take a walk?"

Keith shook his head, forehead still pressed against the door. "I wanna wait for her."

Shiro pressed his lips into a line. This was... a little more than Keith usually did. Even his voice sounded...odd. Tight and a bit broken/ But he supposed this wasn't too weird... right? Shiro pulled him from the door gently.

"She'll still be here long after we come back," Shiro said. He pulled again, "Come on, let's go get a drink--"

Bizarre as it was nothing could have prepared Shiro for the sight that followed then. 

Tears. Huge tears, the size of melons, spilled down Keith's cheeks, and his lips were pulled down in a distressed curl that made Shiro pull away with a start and made his eyes nearly bulge out of his head. All manner of logical connection flew from Shiro's head as Keith's mouth trembled and his shoulders slumped. Shiro could only stare in amazement as Keith leaned forward to press his face against his chest and weep.

"She  _hates_ me, Shiro!" Keith hiccuped, blubbering and his voice was muffled against Shiro's vest. "She hates me and it's all my  _fa-a-ault!"_

_W-what the...?!_

"N-no, of course, she doesn't hate you!" Shiro exclaimed, panicking. He wrapped an arm around Keith's shoulders, bringing him into a quick embrace that was more to help steer Keith away and down the hall than anything. "Look, whatever happened, I'm sure it'll all be okay. Pidge just needs time! She'll come around!"

"She's right to hate me," Keith sniffled wetly, lifting a gloved hand to wipe his tears and snot on. Shiro was thrown. "I'm a jerk. I'm the biggest jerk to ever be a jerk in the galaxy. Zarkon's practically a kitten compared to how big a jerk I a-a-am!"

"Aw, come on, Keith, don't say that." Shiro said, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Keith was crying. Actually crying--no, wailing, like a kid who just broke his most prized model battle cruiser, or scraped his knee after wiping out on a hoverboard. "Come on, do you want to go spar? You've always loved sparring, you'll feel better after a good spar!"

Now he  _was_ treating him like a child. Only, to Shiro's exponentially growing surprise, Keith nodded and sniffled. "Okay... I do like sparring."

"Right?" Shiro laughed nervously. "We'll go and do that, and we can go talk about whatever...uh...this is, okay?"

Keith nodded again, but at least he wasn't crying as much. "Okay... yeah. That sounds good."

Outwardly, Shiro was the picture of a perfect older brother, ready to soothe and toughen away all the tears. On the inside, Shiro was struggling to figure out what in Voltron's name was going on with Keith. Even as children, Keith had always been the kind to shove other kids to the ground and he rarely exploded in a fit of tears let alone like this. Shiro had _never_ seen Keith this distressed. As they walked away, Shiro distracted Keith with a story of the last mission they had to do, highlighting Keith's moves during the fight which had him perking up and somewhat reverting back to normal.

"You've really come a long way as a Paladin, Keith."

"Yeah, I guess so," Keith trailed off before his eyes filled up again with tears and his mouth pulled down in another pitiful wail. "...But that still makes me a  _jerk!"_

Shiro scrambled again, smacking Keith's shoulder as he attempted to fix the situation. _Okay, that's it, I'm taking him to Coran._ Shiro thought as he led them down the hallway and began to follow the route to Coran's lab. _I'm getting to the bottom of this._

Keith was still crying by the time Shiro knocked on Coran's door and by that point, Shiro was properly freaking out. 

"Just a tick!" he heard just as the door slid open. Shiro nudged Keith's distressed figure into the lab, glancing around for a sign of Coran in the mess of medical and tech equipment messily strewn on every surface. He had managed to steer Keith into a chair by the time Coran swept into view. He was tugging at his mustache and shaking a vial of light pink liquid and his eyes brightened curiously when he saw Shiro.

"Shiro!" Coran greeted, "What can I do for--Oh!"

Lucky for him Shiro didn't have to say anything, merely gesturing with a wild sort of expression at Keith, who had decided to drape himself on the chair dramatically, his head turned to the side to let his hair fall over his eyes. Coran blanched, staring blankly at Keith for a long moment before meeting Shiro's gaze. Shiro gave him a bewildered shrug and a pleading expression.

"Uh, okay, Keith?" Coran began, "What's happened?"

"Pidge hates me," Keith replied in a low moan. "My life is over."

Coran let out a light laugh, shooting a wary glance at Shiro who rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Of course she doesn't hate you!"

"Yes she does," Keith shot back, looking up to glare at him with puffy red eyes. "I made her cry. I deserve to be hated. I'm the lowest of the low."

Shiro's eyebrows teased his hairline. He did what now?? "Keith, you've got to tell us what happened. I'm sure after we talk things through we can find out a way to--"

"Um, Shiro?" Coran intervened, waving him over. Shiro shot a look at Keith--who had returned to his weeping--and after a moment of deliberation, he quickly followed Coran into the other room.

"Coran, please tell me you know what's going on." Shiro pleaded, scratching at his scalp furiously. "I have _never_ seen him act like this. It's like he's a completely different person!" Coran gave another nervous laugh before clearing his throat and tugging at his clothes uncomfortably.

"Oh, well, hm... where to begin?" Coran turned around, and walked over to a singular cryo-pod. Shiro followed close behind, eager for an explanation. "Well, it's a bit of a complicated situation, Shiro. It's kind of a process. Would you help me get a few things as I explain? I was working on fixing this cryo-pod and I usually explain better while I'm working. Please, join me."

Coran snatched a couple of rags from the table near the pod, which was littered with papers and equipment and all sorts of humming tech. Shiro caught a rag Coran tossed and followed blankly as Coran began to wipe the pod down. Shiro threw a look over his shoulder in the direction of the other room before sighing and turning toward the pod. He started wiping, glad at least that he had something to do away from yanking his own hair out.

"Alright, what's going on?" Shiro asked, following Coran's motions in wiping the pod.

"Well, uh, you see I've been working on a few things lately. A sort of chemical that would allow us a bit of an edge over the Galra, you see," Coran began, pausing to lean back a bit and stare at the pod. Shiro paused but continued when Coran pointed at something on the side of the pod, "Could you get that spot right up there? It's a bit out of my way."

Shiro glanced up, unable to pinpoint where Coran pointed but did as he was told. "Actually, it's not so much a chemical as it is a chemical cocktail. It's really promising, I had a bunch of information and great specs, you know the works! Really promising stuff."

"So what? What's in it?" Shiro asked, rising on the tips of his toes to get the imaginary spot with the rag.

"Oh you know... a few things..." Coran trailed off when suddenly Shiro felt something shove him inside the pod. The xenoglass slid shut behind him just as Shiro stumbled in, throwing his hands forward to catch himself. He spun around, eyes wide with shock when he saw Coran looking at him with an apologetic expression.

"Coran, what are you--"

"Sorry, Shiro!" Coran said, and all too suddenly Shiro was seized by a wave of frigid air that sunk into his lungs and deep into his mind. "Can't have too many people involved!"

"Too many--Coran!" But before he could as so much as shoot a command into his right arm and slam a punch against the glass, the cold became too much and his mind shut down into that strange familiar feeling of mechanically induced hibernation.

Coran stared at Shiro's frozen figure in the pod and let out a low sigh. Anxious, he turned and began to pace in front of the pod, mind running as quick as it could through all possible scenarios now that this--of all things--had just happened. Coran, reached into his pocket and pulled out the bit of tech that let him know whether or not Pidge had turned her communicator back on. The little light on the control next to Pidge's name was off.

Well... things certainly got a little more complicated...

Coran paced around a few times before squeezing the bridge of his nose. No, no, this is fine. There was still a solution to this! Sure, it was unexpected, but when did anything really go according to plan anyway? This was just a little hiccup! A simple matter that had a very simple solution! All he needed to do was bring Pidge in and they'd be able to come up with something no problem!

Okay, so this may be getting a  _weeeeee_ bit out of control... but there was no reason to panic! Everything was going to be right-o!

Coran glanced up at the pod, paling when he realized that he had just thrown the Head of Voltron into a cryo-pod. This... was not good.

"Well... shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know Coran's *really* worried when he swears in English.


	7. Chapter 7

"So," Hunk huffed once the door to Lance's bedroom slid shut. A quick look around helped Hunk spot a hologram near the wall that worked like a board, cleaned of other previous uses. "Does Coran know you've got his hologram whiteboard?"

Lance poked his head out from his bathroom, an irritated look tugged his eyebrows down. Hunk raised a brow when he saw the creamy beginnings of Lance's nightly face mask over his forehead and left cheek. "It's a secret mission, Hunk. We need to brainstorm our plan of attack."

"I thought we were only doing recon? Also, why are you putting on that stuff? Aren't we gonna move out soon?"

"Just because we're moving out in a few hours doesn't mean my nightly routine needs to change. I'm not an animal."

Lance disappeared around the corner. Hunk pursed his lips and found his usual spot on the floor next to Lance's bed. "...Are you about done?"

"In a minute!" came Lance's aggravated reply. Hunk groaned and let his head fall backward on the mattress, his eyes trailed figures on the ceiling as he bobbed his leg, trying not to be too impatient. Lance always did this, if they wanted to plan a prank or just hang out, he'd insist Hunk arrive at his room for their 'brainstorming' sessions at a specific time. Hunk had no problem arriving on time, being punctual was expected when most of their teenage lives were spent in preparation of being picked into the Garrison. Back then, Lance had been his bunk mate and had shown no sign of being unable to adjust to the strict scheduling. Figures though that as soon as they were out of there Lance would probably revert to old habits. At least he wasn't a slob...

"Are you done  _beautifyin_ _g_ yourself?"

"Yes," Lance said and when Hunk glanced up he saw Lance standing at the mouth of the bathroom in his robe and hair tied in a towel away from his creamed up face. "I am. Ready?"

"Been ready," Hunk grunted. Lance rolled his eyes and motioned him toward the hologram "whiteboard" with a shoulder. Hunk hoisted himself up on his knees to crawl closer and sit on the floor near Lance.

"Okay, I hope you've been brainstorming while I was in the bathroom." Lance began. Hunk stared at him. "You weren't, were you."

"Dude, this is your idea completely," Hunk said lifting his hands in the air. "I'm only tagging along so you don't end up murdered by an angry Pidge."

Lance glared at him for a second before muttering beneath his breath. Hunk perked up with an offended look, "Hey, I may not be fluent in Spanish, but I know what _pendejo_ means, you jerk!"

"Okay, let's see," Lance continued, ignoring Hunk's indignant grunt. He waved a hand over the hologram, and it blinked to life. With a few waves and flicks of his wrist, the hologram blinked into a blank screen with several commands to the side. Lance picked a few with a few wiggling fingers before turning to Hunk. "Let's just start from the top. What do we know?"

Hunk rested his chin on a hand, "Aside from what you extorted from me?"

"Hunk."

"Well... all we know for certain is that Pidge and Coran have been researching certain types of chemicals," Hunk said. "Something called, rubellium, hixonditrate, and aphrodisixicon." As Hunk dictated, the hologram picked up and wrote in Altean before translating to English. A few options to apply graphs and diagrams appeared. Lance waved a command to allow the few to appear beside the words.

"And they share similarities to oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin... among others." the hologram filled in the added detailing just as Hunk concluded.

"And something about a serum, right?" Lance added. The word 'serum' appeared with a few question marks at its side. Hunk's expression flattened.

"We don't know for sure, Lance."

"Let's move on," Lance said. He moved his hands again, and the hologram split into three windows. "We know Pidge generally steers clear of any place besides the Hangar. That's her go-to place to work. Coran's in his office lab thing. Keith's in the training deck as always. Shiro and Allura are either in the hull or in the main deck."

The hologram offered the option to prep a map of the ship, with highlighting arrows pointing to individuals following Lance's instructions. Lance perked up at the option and accepted. "This thing is so cool. Hey, you think Coran would whine if he never saw this again?"

"Coran whines about a lot of things," Hunk shrugged. "Anyway, what's your point?"

"Nothing, I'm just trying to see how they would be involved based on this..." Lance crossed his arms and stared at the map before them. "Why would they bring in Keith?"

"Again, you're assuming." Hunk said.

"We have to at least consider it." Lance retorted, tapping his foot. "Honestly, you're an engineer, right? Aren't probabilities like your thing?"

"Yeah, but we don't jump to conclusions on inferences," Hunk grumbled. "That wouldn't be correct science."

Lance snorted and shook his head, "You and Pidge, I swear. Okay fine,  _assuming_ Keith is involved, why would they bring him in? The guy may be a great pilot but he knows less about science than I do... So, him helping them out with make little sense, unless... he agreed to be their guinea pig."

"Keith? Agree to that?" Hunk shook his head. "That seems unlikely."

"Hmm... yeah, you're right about that." Lance moved the map hologram to the side, beginning on the third. "Okay, so Coran's clearly the head of this secret operation. You said Pidge was just running numbers, so she probably doesn't know everything Coran's doing. So, our main place of attack would be in here--" he moved the map back into place and tagged the little flag where Coran's name was written. "So, we'll need to move after he heads back to his room. Which is what... a few hours after lights out right?"

"Okay but after we sneak in, what do you think we should look for?"

"Basically anything and everything that looks even remotely suspicious. Any chance you could build something that could help us find stuff with these chemicals?"

Hunk nodded, "Yeah. I'll just need the data. But it'll probably take me a few hours."

"Alright," Lance said and nodded to himself with a pleased expression. "If you could have that ready before go-time, we should be golden! You go get that tracker thingy ready."

Hunk sighed again but conceded, "Fine. What are you gonna do?"

Lance cracked his knuckles and looked in the direction of the Hangar on this map. "I'm gonna do some digging."

* * *

_His hands cradle her cheeks with a tenderness that was unbecoming of the scars on his fingers. She knew this because of how gently they touched and how hard they scratched her face. Yet despite this, Pidge couldn't find it in her to peel herself away from his hold. Not when he was staring at her with glaring eyes._

_"Get me out of this, Pidge." he said, and it only occurs to her that he had been repeating himself... over and over. "I'm not myself like this. It's a prison. Get me out of this. Please. Pidge."_

_"I don't know how," and his cheeks were caressing hers and his mouth was brushing against her eyelids._

_"Get me out of this, Pidge." his hands were trailing down her neck, dragging fire into her skin. "Get me out. Get me out."_

_"I'm trying... I'm trying."_

_"Get me out..." and then he was pressing her against something hard and warm and Pidge was gasping. "Get me out, please. Save me, Pidge. Save me. Pidge... Pidge--"_

"Pidge! Pidge, come in, come on now! Pidge! Helloooo!"

Pidge's body snaps up from her cot and into a sitting position. The console by her bed was blinking bright blue light where Coran's disembodied voice hounded her from her sleep and dreams. Her body felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton, and blinking felt odd. It took a moment for her to realize it was due to all the rheum that dried over her eyelids. Pidge let out a tight groan, rubbing the crust with one sweaty palm before swatting the console to answer Coran's irritating call.

" _What_ ," Pidge began, croaking and coughing away the last of the cotton feeling in her throat. "Coran, I'm up, what is it?"

"You were more out of it than a pilfer in the middle of hooper season!" Coran exclaimed. Pidge tested her tongue against her teeth, failing to match the idiom to anything ever close to comprehensible. Stupid translators. "Anyway, I'm glad you answered. I need you over here...uh... pretty quick."

"Why," Pidge grunted. "Also--ugh... what  _time_ is it?"

"Almost close to light's out," Coran's voice answered. Pidge waved a hand over the console and the lights in her room faded into life. She sighed and swung her legs over her cot. Pidge pressed a palm to her forehead, everything felt so wrong. "I wouldn't have bothered to wake you but well... it's Keith."

Something about his name made a muscle in Pidge's abdomen squeeze and she shuddered.  _What was that dream just now?_ "What about him?"

"Did you happen to leave him alone?"

"Yeah, but--" her voice broke as a yawn cracked past her jaw, Pidge rested her hands against the edge of her cot and let her head fall to her chin. "--He's fine. He's probably still waiting outside my room."

"Yeah-uh-no, he's not. In fact--"

The weirdest sound broke past Coran's voice, making Pidge lift her head up with alarm and stare wide-eyed at the console. "Coran?? What the hell--"

"Okay, that is enough! You have been weeping for three hours straight, number four! You either calm down or I'm putting you to sleep!"

" _H-how can I possibly sleep... when I have become the most hated creature in the universe?! End me, just end me now...!"_

Pidge's face fell when a crash soon followed. She jumped to her feet and snatched her radio device from the ground where she had tossed it. A quick transfer of the call had the sounds on her console transfer over to the device in her ear. She had to thank Altean technology to automatically lower the volume in her ear because the following sound would've deafened her.

"Coran--what  _is_ that?!"

"Would you believe it's Keith? Look--Keith, stop it! Stop it now--Please just get over here. I'll need your help to get him under control."

A tick later, she was outside her room, practically running down the halls in the direction of Coran's lab. With a squeeze of her thumb, Pidge activated the proximity alert she had modified on the radio. A quick scan of the next few hallways told her she was in the clear. Pidge pushed her pace to a run.

"Can't you throw him in the pod or something?" Pidge asked as she rounded a corner.

"Uh... about that... it's kind of complicated." Before she could demand an explanation, Coran had started shouting at Keith again.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!!" and just like that the feed was cut and Pidge was left running on her own.

"Aw, crap." Pidge groaned before pushing her run into a sprint. By the time she had arrived at Coran's office, she was sweating and gasping, and had almost slid across the smooth floor of the hall and missed the door. A quick grab and a hoist in the other direction put a stop to the fall that nearly threw her on her back. Pidge leaped into the lab, eyes wide and frantic as she tried to find a source of the great commotion.

It was almost difficult to tell the difference, but the chaos that was usually Coran's lab was slightly more chaotic. Papers were strewn on the floor and a few broken glass measuring tools were seen under the table. She was able to spot Coran, back facing her and caught the part of a sentence.

"...makes it in here, everything will be just fine! I promise!"

"Coran," Pidge heaved, shaking off the remains of cottony discomfort her body was still struggling to remove after a bad nap and an unprepared run. Coran shot up like an arrow, turning around to fix Pidge the most relieved expression she had ever seen on him.

"Oh thank Alfor--Pidge!" he exclaimed her name a little too loudly. Just as he did so, Keith's body shot up from seemingly out of nowhere.

"What's going oooo--what the!?" Her neck nearly strained with the force of her whiplash because no sooner did she turn and look she nearly slipped to the ground. Keith's face was  _red_ , and not in an angry way... but in the way you see when a child hits themselves in a bad way and no amount of fake cheering or laughing could sway into a wary calm. Luckily, she was spared from seeing his expression in such a childlike crumble of desperation, but she did see several tears leak from his eyes. They were roughly the size of her fists. It was unbelievable.

"Coran, what did you do?!" Pidge exclaimed through an airy scream. She approached him before she could think, and if it weren't for the fact that Keith nearly flinched away from her, she would've probably done something stupid. Like, hug him or something. So she did the next best thing. Don't ask her why she did, but seeing him in this state made her reach up to grab his shoulders and even reach for his face.

"It wasn't me!" Coran cried out with indignation. Pidge shot him an unbelieving glance before ushering Keith to a chair. Her hands sought anything out of place, any shred of evidence that could explain this extremely out of character situation.

"P-Pidge," Keith hiccuped and sniffled wetly. "Y-you came!"

"Well, yeah," Pidge said and was taken aback yet again by the look of sheer adoration making his weeping eyes appear even bigger. "Look don't overthink it. I overheard crashes and got worried--"

"You were worried? About me?" his voice broke and his lip quivered. Before she could stop him, Keith's head fell forward before landing on her stomach, his arms wrapped around her waist and tugged her into a tight embrace where she had no idea what to do with her hands. She settled on resting them awkwardly on his head. "I'm so s-sorry! I didn't mean to--oh god, you must  _hate_ me."

"Of course I don't hate you," Pidge said through a surprised huff, her hands digging soothingly through his hair. "Come on, why would I ever--"

A single glance to see Coran's curiously wide-eyed expression made her pause. Pidge cleared her throat and removed her hands from his head, flailing for a moment before awkwardly patting his head quickly. "Uh, right, okay, Keith you have to let go now."

Keith lifted his head and looked up at her, lip quivering again, "Not until you hear me out... I'm so sorry, Pidge. I... I'm a jerk. The biggest jerk. I..." suddenly he paused, and there was a weird look on his face followed by his eyes rolling to the back of his head and going. Pidge blinked in confusion before yelping, hurrying to catch his body and they both fell to the ground.

"Keith--Keith!!" Pidge shouted, holding on to his head from keeping it from smacking into the ground. "Coran, what's wrong with him?!"

To her surprise, Coran heaved a huge sigh of relief before replying cheerily, "Oh, well that would be the result of me finally putting him to sleep!" 

Pidge looked up at him in surprise, "You--okay could you please tell me what's happening? Why did he... behave like this?"

"Oh like you don't know," Coran scoffed and laughed in disbelief, he turned around and stalked toward one of the consoles near the wall. "After all, you're responsible."

Pidge reeled, blinking slowly before frowning. She glanced down at Keith, who was now dozing off on her lap, a few stray tears falling from his eyes. Nothing made sense for a solid moment before Coran returned with a glass test tube holding clear liquid and an expression that could only be described as poignantly crestfallen. Pidge couldn't help bristling at it all.

"Quite honestly, I'm disappointed," Coran sighed, shaking his head. "I mean, just look at him. He's a blubbering mess."

Pidge sputtered, "I'm...  _what?"_

"Well, you certainly did make an effort, I can't deny that," he swirled the liquid in the tube for a bit. "but I can't just give points for trying."

"Coran, what are you talking about?"

Coran blinked in surprise, "Isn't this because you attempted to give him a shock?"

It only occurred to her now that this was what Coran had been talking about the entire time. In a moment of brutal honesty, Pidge couldn't outright answer because she had genuinely forgotten for a solid minute about their latest attempt to snap Keith back to normal. Still, Pidge couldn't stop her expression from pinching in disbelief.

"You're going to need to try harder than this, that's for certain," Coran continued, tugging at his mustache. "I mean, you really got a reaction out of him. But it looks like it's going to take much more than that. Here, this should stabilize him."

He handed her the tube, to which she ignored to glare at him. "Hold on, now, you think this is happening because of  _me?_ "

Coran's eyes flickered upwards in contemplation. Pidge drew a sharp breath through her teeth before setting Keith down on the ground. She scrambled to her feet and jabbed an angry index finger against Coran's chest. Coran let out a yelp of surprise at that.

"Whoa now--"

"This isn't my fault! For the record, I did not make him like this because I was trying to fulfill your little hypothesis! This isn't science, this is just...just... AGH! Furthermore, don't think I didn't notice a key factor in all of this. I heard you say he was like this for hours now!"

Coran wilted at that, twiddling gloved thumbs together, "Well, uh... your point?"

"My point," Pidge ground out through clenched teeth, "Is why you didn't just throw him in the pod to get this under control?!"

"Well, uh... that's... because," Coran glanced around nervously, swallowing thickly before tugging at his collar. Pidge glared at him. 

"Coran, what now?"

He shot a quick glance at Keith before dragging a gloved hand over his face. "Alright, you do need to see this. But!" he paused as he all but pressed a hand over her face. "You can't get mad at me."

Pidge's expression pinched with suspicion and growing outrage, "What did you do?"

A second of tapping his fingers together anxiously, Coran cleared his throat before motioning for her to follow him. Pidge followed close, practically hounding his heels and bracing herself for the worst. _I really hope he didn't do anything stupid,_ Pidge thought as she stepped over bits of chaos that littered the floor. They walked past the door that led into the pod chamber where Pidge had to step over a strewn chair. "Alright, Coran, what is it."

Coran said nothing as he continued in, stopping by the pod before standing next to it awkwardly. Pidge arched a brow before he motioned toward it with a sort of flap of his arms. And that's when Pidge saw it.

A gasp ripped from her chest and Pidge all but bolted toward the front of the pod, looking through the xenoglass and seeing the undeniable frozen body of a wide-eyed Shiro staring out from the pod, hand extended in surprise. Pidge's hands landed on the glass,  _Shiro?!? What is he---how!?_ when a sharp flinch made her fingers curl around the glass. Pidge slowly turned to burn a horrified look into Coran's pale expression.

"What," she began, "did you  _do?"_

Coran gave a strained laugh before squeaking, "It was an... accident?"

And for the third time in the past two days, Pidge lost her shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be out in a couple of days! ahh Coran. I hope you guys are digging the amount of absurdity going into this because it is so ridiculous. Also next time--touch down on the planet Hytaxia! Home of beautiful flowers and questionable drinks made from nectars known to cause a little... affection.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why are you people still reading this

The hangar's lights brightened from a dim glow to completely lit the second Lance's quiet footsteps crossed the sliding doors. The abrupt change startled him despite knowing full well that's what they were designed to do upon registering someone entering. A second passed as he cowered by the door, an annoyed grimace tugged his face before he forced himself to calm down.

_"The big lights give you a little spook?"_

Lance's grimace fell into a full on aggravated pout at Hunk's amused tone in his ear.

"Shut up," he grumbled as he made his way down the hangar in the direction of the Green Lion's bay. "Just make sure you're looping the recording."

_"Sure,"_ Hunk said, voice flat.  _"Because Pidge is that paranoid that she checks the feeds all the time."_

"I would too if I was in on a secret project and holding secrets from the rest of the group," Lance said as he slid across silently over the smooth reflective surface of the floor. He made a few grunts of effort as he ducked behind a desk and peered around quietly before slinking forward in his best impression of a ninja crawl.

" _What...are you doing?"_ Hunk asked, snorting.  _"If I'm looping the video you know there's no need for that right?"_

Lance paused mid-attempt at lithely jumping over a table. A second later, he returned to a normal position, cheeks flushing pink with a growl. "Ugh, why you gotta throw off my groove like that?"

Hunk laughed,  _"Sorry."_

"Whatever, how goes the tracker device?" Lance said as he finally arrived at Green's door. As expected it was closed like the others. Lance lifted a hand and pressed it against the cool metal-like door.

_"Slow-going considering I'm basically keeping an eye on you."_ Hunk said through a grumble, the sound of something hissing and whirring melted with his voice. Lance pursed his lips but said nothing.

"Do you think you can open Green's door from where you are?"

_"You should be allowed in,"_ Hunk responded. 

Lance frowned, pressing his hand harder against the door. He paused to close his eyes and focus. Years of working closely with the Lions have allowed a constant mental link to the lions--never as strong as Keith's connection to Red and Black--but welded well enough that messages and ideas could be fed to them should anyone ever be separated. Working as a whole often meant being connected always. Even if it did get annoying sometimes. Lance was glad that this connection didn't actually breach everyone else's mind always. Ugh, imagine having to deal with Keith's mental strife during this awkward time with Pidge would be a  _nightmare._

Lance cleared his mind after that particular little thought forced a shudder down his back. Finding Green's wavelength wasn't hard, but something about her felt almost... elusive. As though she wasn't too keen in connecting with his mind. Lance's frown deepened.

_Hey girl, can I come in?_

_..._

Lance blinked his eyes open and felt a wave of suspicion rise in his mind when the door remained firmly closed. "That's...definitely not suspicious at all..."

_"What's wrong?"_

"Green's not letting me in."

_"Maybe she's just not in the mood to deal with you."_

Lance shot the nearest camera a dirty look. Hunk's voice morphed into a semi-stifled giggle.

"Hilarious," Lance said, obviously not amused. He looked back at Green's door and tugged his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "You know...this further proves my theory that Pidge must be hiding something."

_"Or it proves nothing just that Green would rather nap than let you go digging in her stuff."_

Lance clicked his tongue against his teeth before walking toward the edge of the door where a hidden panel didn't appear until Lance tugged his hand out to rest on its surface.

_"Lance, what are you doing?"_

Lance didn't answer, turning his gaze sharp on the panel when a dial pad appeared over his fingers. He remained wordless as his fingers punched in a special sequence into the pad. The panel blinked a bright red once. Lance bit his lip and tried again.

_"Lance,"_   Hunk's voice took a serious edge that bordered on the slightly scandalized, whatever sounds of machinery that had accompanied his voice stopped just as quick.  _"You can't be serious. You could get in serious trouble."_

"Yeah, well," Lance said. The panel blinked red again. Lance paused before punching in another code. "Wouldn't be the first time."

_"Dude this is so not like you. You're knowingly invading Pidge's privacy!"_

"Say I'm right," Lance said, and when his fingers came up the third time the panel flashed a brighter blue and Green's bay door let out a whir and a hiss as it began to open. "And they are playing with something dangerous. We deserve to know and we need to make sure they aren't going in over their heads. Also, don't be a hypocrite, Hunk, we were already invading privacy when you showed me the stuff in the files."

_"Well, yeah but..."_ Hunk trailed off. Lance passed the threshold of Green's bay, glancing up to see the Lion sitting in its usual resting position. He could feel a prod in his mind that felt like a growl, but Lance returned it with an earnest thought. Green's eyes followed him, but she did nothing after that particular moment.

"You're worried too, aren't you girl..." Lance muttered gently as he ran a hand over her paw as he walked past. A final prod was meant as a weak warning, but he could also feel the Lion acquiesce. This was as good as an 'okay' as he was gonna get. He moved close to where Pidge's stuff lay stashed on the far side of the Bay. It was not unusual for her to move her things to be with Green to keep Hunk's sticky fingers from swiping anything important. The extra security precaution was definitely enough to tug on a string in his mind, just enough that it prepped a red flag should he find anything else.

An image flashed in his mind of Pidge working on her desk, eyes hollow with sleep deprivation and looking unreasonably exhausted. It wasn't a pretty image. Lance physically recoiled, looking up at Green's head with surprise.

"Does this have to do with Keith?" Lance asked. A tremor flowed through the wavelength and it felt more like uncertainty than anything--even a bit of concern. "She's been keeping you out?" an affirmation. Lance scowled. "Okay, why would she do that...??"

A final image of Hunk and Pidge talking in the Hangar passed in his mind. This all started just a couple of days ago...

"Thanks, Green," Lance patted the Lion affectionately before turning towards Pidge's stuff and considered the odds of being able to successfully hack into any of it. Based on Green's impressions, though, Lance felt like he got all he needed from here.

"Hunk, you anywhere closer to finishing?"

At some point, the whirring had returned into white noise within Lance's ear and it paused once he asked.  _"Well... it's not super pretty, but it'll get the job done. What'd you find?"_

"Nothing that's evidential," Lance said as he walked around Pidge's workstation anyway, curious if she would have been messy enough to have left something he could see. "I did have a very interesting conversation with Green though."

_"Anything that's more than circumstantial?"_

Lance pursed his lips one more time before spinning on his heels and walking back out the Bay. The doors closed as soon as he stepped out and began walking back out toward the hangar's entrance. He took a moment to pause by Red's bay doors, and let his mind tug gently on the connection there as well. As usual Red didn't tug back, still too picky in letting just anyone in. But there was just the faintest hint of...something... that didn't quite feel normal. Like the ghost of an emotion that was too muddled to make out. Lance kept walking, his jaw firm.

"Not sure yet," Lance said, his voice brightening up as he felt himself get closer to an answer. "But we'll see soon, won't we?"

* * *

 

As far as morning routines go, Princess Allura's was fairly balanced between waking, getting ready, and running system's checks over the castle as her training demanded. As usual, the mice were the last to get up, following her readily and obediently as she yawned her way into her bathroom to splash water on her face. A hologram hovered by her head as she muttered systems out loud through sleep drowsy lips.

"Main system turbines status..." Allura said, rubbing water from her eyes and reached for a towel. Her mice readily handed it to her and she took it, dragging Platt as she tugged the sponge cloth over her cheeks. The hologram returned a series of numbers and charts at her command and she glanced at it as she went about tying her hair up into a bun. The cool water helped with waking up and Allura shivered as she removed her sleeping gown to step into the quick shower.

She continued muttering and inquiring system analysis to the computer as her body was sprayed, foamed, and then rinsed down. The warm water was refreshing and Allura felt energy pour into her skin and revitalize her mind. With a sigh she emerged from the shower and stood as warm air burst from the sides, drying her thoroughly. Tugging on her suit came next and it slid up her body like a second skin.

"Contact Shiro," Allura announced, taking a final look in the mirror to look over her body once more. Just in case. The hologram showed a picture of Shiro's expression--one that always drew a giggle from her throat. None of the Paladins had been prepared for the system to take their image of identification the first time, so they all had looked perpetually confused and/or surprised. After two years on the ship, an update was usually required and they were more or less prepared that time around. Shiro seemed to be the only one who couldn't quite anticipate when the technology would capture his image so his expression was frozen mid-blink and mid-conversation. It was definitely not the best and Shiro had been at the end of endless teasing by the rest of the crew when it happened. He had insisted for another attempt but an attack on the castle cut that endeavor rather short. They had sort of forgotten about it since then, only remarking upon it whenever the image appeared on hologram communication.

Despite it all, Allura couldn't find it in her to want him to change it. Shiro was not often the kind of person to get distracted or caught off guard. It was so... human. Allura couldn't help being fond of it regardless of how silly it was. Her amusement was short lived when the hologram came up with a NO CONNECTION under his name.

"Try again," she said, taking another moment to lean in close to her mirror to spot any imperfections. The result was the same. Allura blinked, perplexed. "Odd..."

Shiro was a stickler for military schedules and discipline. It wasn't often that he would miss an early morning briefing. In fact, it seldom happened. If it even happened at all. Allura waved a hand over the hologram and proceeded out of her bedroom, uncertain how to handle this unprecedented circumstance. The mice scurried along climbing up her legs naturally as she began her usual pace.

"Contact Coran," Allura said as the hologram materialized for her to reach up and grab. Sure enough, Coran's image greeted her a second after. An unusually long moment passed and Allura arched a brow. Before the connection failed, the link was established and she saw Coran abnormally close to the feed.

"Princess!!" Coran greeted loudly, smiling big and wide. Just behind him though, Allura saw something--or rather someone--duck or jump out of the way. Allura blinked in surprise. "Good--uh--Good morning!"

"...Uh...Good morning, Coran," Allura said, blinking once before trying to peer behind him. "Was that...Pidge I saw just now?"

"What--No! Who? What?" Coran asked, donning a confused expression that looked too strained to feel genuine. Allura cocked her chin, seeing Coran block her every attempt to look past him. "What can--I uh--what can I do for you, Princess?"

The sound of something crashing made Coran close his eyes in a wince before he looked at her with a bright smile. "Coran, what's going on? Did I hear a crash?"

"Everything's fine! Fine, fine," Coran said and she saw him tug a gloved finger through his collar. She notices then that his hair is somewhat out of place and a dark stain hugged the edge of his shoulder.

"You look like you've been attacked by a klanmürl," Allura said pulling away from the hologram to peer at him oddly. 

"Well, uh, I've had a bit of a... night, uh," he said with a chuckle that cut off as he cleared his throat. "In any case, is there something I can assist you with? I assure you everything is f-" another crash. "Fine!"

Allura stopped walking, pausing to just look at Coran as he met her gaze too earnestly. Allura frowned but proceeded on her way down to the main hull, "We'll be arriving at Hytaxia within the next few Vargas, I want to have the team meet up around that time so we can do a quick briefing before we disembark."

"Hytaxia... Princess?" Coran repeated, his face paled. This was getting odder and odder...

"Yes," Allura said. "Don't you remember? I've told you we were making a stop there to make some repairs and pick up supplies. I told Lance and Hunk to let the others know just last night."

"Right..." Coran said, schooling his features to look agreeable. "Right, of course, Princess. What would you like me to do?"

"Just make sure they are cleared before landing. I do not want a repeat of what happened last time. It took ages to get Lance the right shade again." Allura said, tapping a few codes into her panel, double-tasking.

"Of course, Princess, I'll get on it immediately!" Coran said brightly.

"Thank you, Coran," Allura said. "By the way, have you seen Shiro?"

Coran, who had been reaching to end the call suddenly disappeared followed by another crash. Allura blinked, startled and leaned in with a frown. Just before she saw him scramble up she swore she spotted a pair of legs sprawled behind a lab table. Tell-tale boots the shade of white, black, and red, and Allura was about to comment, surprised to notice they looked like they were being dragged out of sight when Coran popped back up, heaving with effort.

"Sorry, sorry, Princess," Coran said, dragging his hands through his hair and clothing quickly. "I seemed to have lost my footing there. Ahem... ah... Shiro? Uh no, no... I don't believe I have seen him, uh... why do you ask?"

"I tried to contact him earlier this morning for a quick briefing," Allura said rounding a corner. This was getting too weird. "But he didn't respond. It's really strange. I don't want to worry but he's never done that before."

"Perhaps, he's in the training deck--ow!" Coran stopped to throw a sharp look off screen before smiling back up at her. Allura gazed back flatly.

"Coran," she said, voice suspicious. "What's going on."

"I assure you, Princess," Coran said with a gracious bow. "Everything is fi--ACK!!"

The feed was suddenly cut when Coran abruptly disappeared below. Allura's eyebrows knitted together as she glanced down at the mice, who shared a similar expression of bewilderment and confusion.

"I'm going to have to get to the bottom of this, aren't I?" Allura asked, lowering the hologram in her hands and rubbing at her forehead. Already she could feel the beginnings of a neck ache forming. The mice exchanged a few agreeing impressions before wishing her luck as best they could. Allura gave them a smile.

"Go on to the kitchen and let Hunk know to set some breakfast aside for me," she said as they clambered down. She faced the other direction of the hallway she was just walking down and with a sigh began to march down the familiar route that led to Coran's office.

* * *

 

_"Why,_ in the known universe,  _did you answer that?!"_   Pidge didn't hesitate to snarl in Coran's face after the call with Allura ended. Coran frowned at her, looking pretty wild himself despite his best efforts in calming his hair down. The night did not end well after Pidge discovered Shiro's frozen body in the pod Coran kept in the back. Coran had expected many things, he hadn't expected her to chase after him, threatening to cave his head or decapitate him with her bayard. Naturally--and frankly, fearing for his life--Coran made every effort to keep the rabid Pidge at bay. He had managed to hold her back until she chucked a sturdy beaker at his head.

Altean skulls, as it happened, were way stronger than the average human skull, and to his relief, no bruising or swelling occurred after the beaker bounced off his head, clear liquid splashing over his suit, before shattering on the ground nearby. It certainly did smart and he may have lost all sense for a second, and after that, he made a stronger effort to duck from other tossed projectiles and to restrain Pidge from breaking anything else. It took a bit of smarts and having to upturn a table to pin her to the ground to get her to calm down. All the while Keith's body had remained on the ground, slumbering obliviously to the madness happening around him.

Not long after Coran managed to sit his weight on her back and held her arms down did Pidge's head drop and she began to wail out of pure frustration. That was another mess he was glad was over some time later. An hour after the madness, Coran had managed to fetch her a blanket and a cup of hot nianvalu and the two sat on the floor of his lab and talked strategy. Pidge had been adamant that Keith would have to be cured immediately, less they incur the full wrath of Allura now that Shiro was locked in a pod for who-knows-how-long they could. That was difficult, as Coran had come up with some potential cures, but administering them would require Keith to be awake--and he had been thoroughly knocked out. Coran still very much wanted to at least study Keith for another day or too and document his behaviors fully, but Pidge threatened him with a violent glare and that put death to his argument.

Receiving the call from Allura right scared the living hell of Pidge and made Coran scream rather unceremoniously. A second after calming down--and a fierce verbal spat between him and Pidge who insisted on having him let the call go unconnected---Coran managed to sneak past her to answer, much to Pidge's distress.

"Do you realize that if I didn't answer, it would have been more suspicious?" Coran snapped back from their place on the ground. A moment later, they pushed themselves back up and Pidge began groaning and muttering under her breath.

"What do we do, what do we do?" she repeated, digging her fingers into her hair. "Allura must be suspicious by now. She's probably on her way this very second!"

"Well, we can't be certain of that," Coran said, tugging at his mustache worriedly. "But... just in case, we should finish cleaning up."

"What about Keith?" Pidge asked before she whirled around, white as a sheet. "Oh god, how do we explain Shiro?"

"Let me worry about that. In the meanwhile, it would be better if you and Keith find a way out of here," Coran moved past her toward his equipment. Opening a secure container filled with vials and syringes, Coran pressed it near the machine by the wall and the computer system awaiting his command. He worked quietly, listening to Pidge move the upturned table back to its location and what else to fix up. The machine processed his commands and he settled the vials into a dock. A series of liquids poured into the vials and Coran tugged them into his hands and slapped them into a gun-like contraption before plucking a syringe into its mouth.

"C'mere," he said, motioning Pidge over. She walked up to him, eyes frazzled and huge behind her slightly-skewed lenses as she glanced between him and the syringe in his hands.

"Don't move," was his only warning before he pressed the mouth against her neck and pulled the trigger. It let out a sharp hiss and Pidge let out a startled gasp, pressing a hand to her neck in shock.

"Coran, what the  _hell_ \--"

"It's a vaccine, relax," he said calmly. "Allura mentioned we'll be touching down on Hytaxia. I just administered a thirty-two-Varga vaccine into your system. The planet isn't dangerous, but there are some things that could affect your immune system if we're not careful. We don't want a repeat of what happened with Lance two years ago."

Pidge stretched her neck, rubbing at where Coran had administered the drug before he slapped her wrist. "Stop rubbing it," he huffed. "Now, I have to a similar vaccine into Keith."

"Wh-whoa, wait," Pidge said, lifting her hands to stop him. "How do we know how it'll affect him?"

Coran smiled, "Oh this won't do anything to affect him now. At most, it'll probably make him a little more agreeable, which is good. Though I doubt we'll see a change. In any case, I mixed his with a lucidity elixir, so he'll wake up almost immediately."

Pidge didn't respond but let him carry on, gnawing on her lower lip as Coran knelt down to the ground and moved Keith's jaw. He continued to sleep soundly as Coran switched vials and pressed the syringe against his neck and pressed the trigger. Not a full second passed when Keith's eyes blinked open and he sat up abruptly.

"FUCK!" He shouted, holding onto his neck before looking disoriented. The curse was so unexpected both Pidge and Coran flinched at it. Keith rubbed his neck and shook his head, "What the hell?"

"Keith?" Coran drew his attention, snapping his fingers in front of him. Keith looked right at him, dazed and aggravated. "Relax, I just administered a vaccine into your system. We'll be touching down on the planet Hytaxia very soon."

"The planet wha...?" Keith groaned, his hand still rubbed at his neck until Coran slapped it away.

"No time to explain further, you have to get up now."

Keith hissed as he pushed himself up, helped by Coran, who offered him a hand. Keith looked shaky as he pulled up to his full height, wincing and touching his head before looking at Pidge. His eyes were a little bloodshot from having lost it just several hours earlier over their spat, but he looked somewhat better than before.

"Pidge..." he said, voice coming out in a hoarse croak. Pidge gave a sigh and walked up to him, pressing herself under his arm when he nearly toppled backward.

"Is this normal?" she asked warningly at Coran. He nodded, making a shooing motion with his hands.

"That's the effect of me pinching him to sleep." Pidge glared at him. Coran rolled his eyes. "I'd love to keep documenting him right now but you do have to get moving. If Allura is indeed on her way, I'd rather you two were rather out of the way, if you don't mind. Off you pop."

Pidge gave a disgusted sigh before nudging Keith in the other direction. He took a few shaky steps but kept up fairly well. "Come on," she said, all but hoisting him out of the lab. "Let's get out of here before anything else goes wrong."

"Meet in the main hull in fifteen!" Coran called as they walked out of the lab, the doors hissing open and closed behind them.

Once they were out in the hallway, Pidge felt a wave of anxiety fill her inside out. She was probably experiencing a side effect of the vaccine considering how alert she felt despite, yet again, not sleeping for a full night. Still, being this close to Keith did things to her chest she wasn't ready for. It was all too soon since her breakdown yesterday and Keith's subsequent disastrous meltdown, but it couldn't be helped. Her heart pounded in her ears and chest as she helped Keith along, hoping her face wasn't as red as she dreaded it was.

Slowly but surely though, Keith's footsteps became less shaky and he was able to carry his own weight normally. He drew in a breath and paused, and it was at this point that Pidge realized he wasn't trying to cozy up to her or even looking at her. If anything he felt tense and uncomfortable.

"I can hold myself up now," he said quietly. Pidge blinked up in surprise. "You don't have to keep holding me."

"O-oh," Pidge said, and pulled away.  _Why did that feel so weird?_ "Right, sure."

She glanced behind her, but Coran's door was no longer within eyesight as the further they went the hallway curved. They should be safe now. Pidge let out a sigh.

"Are you... feeling okay?" she hated asking, but a part of her needed to gauge where he was. Keith refused to look at her, his head faced the other direction and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

"Fine," he said. "Wouldn't you rather be elsewhere though?"

For the strangest reason, his words stung. Pidge's eyes widened in surprise. "...I'm not sure how to answer that."

Keith finally did look at her and he looked angry. Wounded. "I'll save you the trouble. You wanted me gone right? Don't worry about it." and just like that he turned and continued walking off ahead. Pidge felt as though she had gotten slapped. One second he was flirting up a storm _at_ her, the next he was weeping like a child, and now he's... _what??_

 

"HEY!"

Keith slowed but he didn't turn around. Pidge's body shook at her own outburst before she raced after him. She slowed and stopped just ahead of him, rounding him and looking up to meet his gaze defiantly. To her pure aggravation, he refused to look at her.

"I said, hey," Pidge said, voice hard and she pressed a hand against his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "You are  _not_ doing this right now, you hear me? I've got way too much shit to put up with than to deal with... this."

"Oh, that's rich coming from you," he said through a snort and it would've sounded exactly as he always did before any of this happened if he didn't look at her like she had carved a hole in his chest. "You're allowed to escape and run away and give all kinds of excuses while I have to eat my own words, but the second I do the same, you're on my ass?"

"That's different--"

"How," Keith interrupted her, taking a step further and closing the distance to just a few inches between them. Pidge felt the words dry up in her throat as he searched her gaze with eyes far too raw to belong to him, and far too sharp not to. "Explain to me  _how_ that's any different."

Pidge's jaw worked uselessly as she attempted to shoot something back, but nothing did. Her mind went back to all those times she had hidden and ran away from Keith, who had tried so hard to talk to her after what had happened those weeks ago. She couldn't bear to see him, or even hear his voice because it made her chest feel tight. So tight. Kind of like right now.

"You can't," he said. "Because we both know that I'm not the one who fucked up this time."

"You're not yourself right now," Pidge muttered, tearing her gaze away before she did something stupid. Like cry or something. She drew in a deep breath. "You're just... hormonal because of the serum--"

She felt his hands grip around her arms before pulling her and pressing her tight against a wall. Pidge let out a small yelp of surprise and instinctually lifted her hands up to keep him from kissing her, but he didn't move to kiss her. He just closed the distance so he could bear his eyes right against hers and keep her from looking away.

"You feel it," he said, and for a second that scared the shit of her before she realized he was glancing down at her hand on his chest. Pidge flinched and she realized his heart was ramming against his chest to pulse against her fingers. "Tell me you feel it."

"I-I..."

"I feel like my heart's going to burst at any moment for you. All this time I have been wondering why,  _why,_ I cared so much about what you thought about me. Why it killed me to be unable to reach you, why I couldn't feel the 'sorry' in my heart every time I had to say it to your door. But now, it's like everything makes so much sense." His eyes were flickering back and forth between hers and the space between them like she was watching the epiphany dawn on him.  _It scared her._

"N-no, it's not what you think it is," Pidge tried to interject. "It's just the serum--"

Keith's eyes closed for a second, "It is, Pidge. It is. It hit me all so suddenly when I saw you again two nights ago. I realized exactly what you mean to me and god, how it dawned on me how beautiful you are, and it's like I've always known... because the truth is I lo--"

Pidge's hands shot up from his chest to press against his mouth, eyes wide and lips shaking. Keith met her gaze from his mad rambling and stared right at her. Eternity could have passed right by them and neither of them would have noticed. Keith's hold on her arms slackened and fell, yet Pidge couldn't bring herself to remove her hands from his mouth lest he finished that sentence.

"...We need to go meet with the others."

Keith merely looked straight at her, gaze rupturing with all kinds of emotions before his eyes closed and he nodded. Pidge removed her hands from his face, her palm tingled where she had felt his mouth pressed against her skin. 

"I don't want to talk about this again," Pidge said and her voice was so quiet. "N-not until we are certain you've been cured."

Keith said nothing, he only nodded. At this sign of acquiescence, Pidge let her hands fall to her sides and she turned and started walking as fast as she could. She didn't have to glance back to know he was following her, but for a solid moment, she was worried he wouldn't. Their footsteps echoed in her ears like explosions yet Pidge kept her gaze forward until they were walking up to the doors to the main hull.

_Keep it together, Pidge. We're almost through the worst of it,_ she thought to herself.

But of course, as we all really know, she really wasn't.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ended on a bit of an angsty note but had to get this out of the way I guess. next chapter is where we get back to the *real* fun.


	9. Chapter 9

The smell of breakfast, alien as it was, would always revitalize Hunk regardless of what time it was.

In the old days, back at the Garrison, he would often be pushed to all-nighters when engineering projects demanded his attention and anything that would keep his body energized during those long hours was heartily welcome. Those days seem so distant now, and his body has changed a lot since then... well as much as fighting in an intergalactic war spanning several millennia resulted.

He was stronger, a little bit leaner in the way his father looked when he had peered at old albums into his family history.

His father and mother were both Islanders (his mother was from Hawaii and his father from deeper in Polynesia) and as such they were strong people with huge smiles and overly optimistic views on life.

As a child, he often wondered if he was the odd one out in a full family of howling cousins and brave sisters. His timidity was at odds with his appearance, and despite the flicks he got in the forehead for not wanting to engage in anything overly physical, his mother had always encouraged him to follow the paths his heart tugged him to.

Cooking was more than just a way of life for Hunk... it was his only connection to a loving mother who didn't gaze disapprovingly when he preferred flipping skillets over ramming his shoulder into others.

In this fleeting moment of nostalgic reverie, Hunk thought back when his father had clapped him firmly on his shoulders before bringing him close to press his forehead to his. A shared breath later and his father pulled away with a beaming smile,  _"No matter where you are, you'll always make us all proud."_

 _"Dad..."_ Hunk had groaned, trying not to be too embarrassed when the uniform the Garrison had sent him ended up being too small and stretched uncomfortably over his gut.

_"Hey, you're going off to learn about space and take your journey to the stars, son... that's a lot farther than any of us have ever been."_

Hunk had paused to muse for a moment before grinning,  _"We're explorers, right? Gotta take the journey from the ocean somewhere."_

_"No one's more suited for that journey than you are. It's in your name."_

That comment alone got him through the tough times at Garrison Prep--when companions teased his weight, tugged at his headband, laughed when he tried to sneak a meal and failed. And when he had been too timid to stand up for himself... he remembered seeing the tall and confident gaze of Lance piercing through the uncertainty of it all and extending a warm hand. Gosh, they were probably only fourteen or fifteen back then when they were undergoing pre-school training but Lance's smile never changed, even if his boyish demeanor became less wide-eyed and more focused.

_"Sup, name's Lance, what's yours?"_

_"Oh--uh, Hokuaonani..."_

Lance's nose had wrinkled in focus, as it continued to do when he was faced with something unknown.  _"I can try to pronounce that if you give me time... unless you've got a nickname?"_

Hunk had smiled wide and took Lance's extended hand and shook it.  _"Hunk."_

Who knew the class's most obnoxious kid would end up being Hunk's best friend? They definitely were an odd pair but Hunk wouldn't have picked a better partner. Even if he did come up with absurd plans and went off and did them despite the odds. Even if he had the infuriating tendency of dragging him into stupid plans that had high-risk low-success chances. Never mind trying to ask for a secondary opinion, nooo, Lance just had to go on tangents and get carried away... you'd think four years in space fighting an alien super warlord would've taught him a few things...

With seasoned expertise, Hunk drew himself from his thoughts and back to flipping space omelets (as he likes to call them) in a skillet. The soft blue and lilac colored goo sizzled and popped a pleasant sound. Hunk threw a quick glance over his shoulder. Sure enough, Lance was still sulking... or sleeping. Hard to tell when his face was still hidden from view from within his arms and the counter top.

"You know," Hunk said as he sprinkled salt crystals onto the skillet. "I could totally be that guy and tell you I told you so."

Lance said nothing from his draped position on the counter, head cradled by his arms, grumbling. Hunk shot him a glance after flipping the latest omelette-shaped goo off the skillet and letting it fall expertly on a plate covered in them. A moment passed between them in silence where the sound of sizzling hissed between them.

"They were in there  _all night,"_ Lance groaned finally. "As if we could've predicted that. If it weren't for the fact Coran has his office built like a nuclear bunker, we probably would've been able to find out what they were talking about anyway so..."

Hunk gave him a half-hearted shrug and finished adding some more goo into his skillet, flicking the hot surface forward to stir the food without a spatula. Lance frowned at the silence. He knew what this meant.

"Hunk," Lance said, body all but sliding off the counter dramatically. "Come on, don't tell me you're mad."

"I'm not mad," Hunk responded cooly. "I just wasted an entire night building a device for you that we never ended up using. No big deal."

He didn't hear Lance come up behind him, but he did feel his best friend's head nudge him right in the shoulder blade. Hunk scowled.

"Lance, I'm cooking, do you want oil all over your face?"

"You didn't waste an entire night."

Hunk sighed, extending his left hand to wave at the sensor that powered the stovetop. With a wave, the stove's heat was cut off and he placed the still hot skillet on the very inside of the stove top to let it cool. He rubbed his palms on the apron around his waist before turning around.

"Alright, c'mere," he said, allowing Lance to press his face against his chest. Hunk wrapped his arms around Lance's slight frame and patted his back comfortingly, rolling his eyes as Lance mumbled something tiredly against his chest. "Dude, I'm not mad. Promise."

Lance made a sound like,  _don't lie_ , and Hunk had to snort and push him off before meeting Lance's bleary looking eyes and poking his nose. Lance scoffed, flinching away from Hunk's finger and moved backward to lean against the opposite counter.

"That was uncalled for," he griped, rubbing his nose with his fingers.

"But it was well deserved," Hunk retorted. Lance pouted, shoulders sagging. Hunk let out a groan, "Ugh, why are you always so sensitive in the morning?"

"I am  _not_ _!"_ Lance shot back, looking insulted. "I am the perfect amount of sensitive for this situation."

Hunk shook his head with a chuckle, "Whatever. Anyway, tell me how I didn't waste my time watching you watch Coran's office like a nervous mouse."

At this, Lance perked up a little following Hunk as the bigger guy reached up into the cabinets and prepared plates and trays for everyone else. They didn't bother setting them at the dining table in the dining room--considering the fact they had bumped into a very perplexed Allura earlier, with nothing to show for it except a lot of sputtering and weak responses.

The all-nighter ended with Hunk yanking Lance in the direction of the kitchen but not before Allura advised them to meet in the main hull after she spoke to Coran. Unbeknownst to them, they would have bumped into Keith and Pidge had they stuck around a little longer before calling it quits.

"Because I still intend to use your device," Lance replied, the confident gleam returning to his blue eyes.

"Oh yeah? How are you gonna do that?" Hunk asked, sliding food on the plates as he did so.

"Not sure yet... so you'll have to get back to me on that one."

Hunk let out a long-suffering sigh. To his credit, Lance didn't bother retort in aggravation when he could have. Instead, a long moment passed between them as they worked in silence where Lance's expression withdrew into a pensive expression. His eyebrows curled together, and his lips thinned out when he considered the situation at hand. Hunk had to give it to him, if Lance curled a hand under his chin and adopted a kneeling position, he'd have the Thinking Man look down pat.

"I still don't know what they were doing in there..." Lance grumbled as Hunk handed him served plates and he settled them in the trays.

"Why does that matter still?" Hunk asked, meeting his friend's gaze earnestly. "Can't we just let it go?"

"No," Lance said, blue eyes hardening. "I've got a hunch, Hunk. I'm not about to just drop it before we find something big."

"And what if it's nothing," Hunk said, finishing off serving and getting a handful of sporks. "We'll have wasted an even bigger amount of time."

"I can live with that," Lance said, balancing his trays as the two headed out the kitchen and in the direction of the main hull. "But if I'm right... whatever, we've already talked about this. I'm not changing my mind, but hey, if you're absolutely sure you don't want to keep doing this, you can quit."

Hunk scowled at the back of Lance's head at that. "And what, let you get crucified alone if it goes sour? No way."

Lance peered over his shoulder with a grateful look and a teasing thought on his lips before they rounded a corner and Lance ended up colliding with another moving force. He yelped, reeling backward and nearly dropped the trays if not for Hunk quickly stepping in and catching him from falling over. The trays wobbled and slid but didn't fall from his hold and the duo breathed a sigh of relief before glancing up.

"Oh," they heard when they looked up and saw Keith, peering down at them with a surprised look. "Sorry. I didn't see you two."

"Keith," Lance exclaimed before his expression soured, "This is the second time you nearly killed me."

Keith's expression pinched into one of thinly veiled irritation before he looked at Hunk and gave him a nod. "Morning, Hunk."

"Hey, Keith."

Lance straightened up, taking an angry step forward, "Don't ignore me!"

"Lance, knock it off," Hunk said, fixing his friend a disapproving glare.

"Yeah, before the two of you end up getting into it in a bad way."

At the sound of Pidge's voice, Hunk noticed something peculiar. Lance and Keith both turned to appraise Pidge as she walked up behind Keith to greet them. He would have noticed nothing had Keith's expression not have softened to an alarming degree. He didn't say anything as she passed him to stand a safe distance away from all of them, but Keith watched her and refused to look anywhere else after she came into the conversation. Hunk blinked, surprised but said nothing as Lance fell into familiar banter with the long-haired girl. Turning his attention on her, Hunk noticed exhaustion dripping from her form despite the alertness in her eyes and the razor sharp stance she adopted.

"Are you guys bringing breakfast up into the hull?" Pidge asked and Hunk snapped back to attention.

"Yeah," Lance answered before shooting Keith a dirty look. "Until Keith nearly ruined it."

At the mention of his name, Keith looked up at Lance and returned his look dagger for dagger.

"Okay, can we avoid the petty arguments and leave those way out of the way?" Pidge asked, nose curling in disgust before she looked a Hunk. "What, did he not get enough beauty sleep or something?"

"All-nighter," Hunk divulged before he could stop himself and nearly bit his tongue when Lance's shoulders visibly tensed up. "I was working on something and he decided to help me with it, even though I kept telling him it was a _bad idea._ "

 _Nice save._ Lance glared at him but at least he wasn't as tense as before. "Last time I help you with anything."

Hunk blinked back drily.

"Let's just get to the main hull before we all decide to kill each other, okay?" Pidge interrupted pointing in the direction they were headed. They needed no further ado and with that, the group began walking down the hallway. It was amusing to note the collective exhaustion dragging all but Keith's expressions down, he looked like the only one who got a full night's sleep.

"Need help with some of those Lance?" Pidge asked once they were a little ways down the hall.

"Huh?" Lance glanced at Pidge before he glanced down at the trays on his arms, "Oh, yeah if you want--"

Before Lance could finish, Keith took some of the trays off his arm wordlessly, offering him no glance or anything that resembled a warning or acknowledgement. Lance balked at him before glaring at him. When he glanced back at Pidge, she was pursing her lips with a tight look. Lance grabbed a tray from his other arm and offered it to Pidge.

"Here."

Keith shot him a dirty look, reaching to grab it but failed when Pidge took it and hurried a few steps ahead of them.

"I could've carried that," Keith said with a sigh.

"I've got it," Pidge shot back, sandy hair bouncing on her back stiffly.

"You don't have to bother yourself with it," Keith said, voice taking a soft tone despite a hint of an edge behind it.

"I said, I've got it, Keith." Pidge snapped.

Hunk exchanged looks with Lance, who looked just as bewildered as he felt. The tension between the two suddenly felt as heavy as a ten-pound weight around their necks. Hunk cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"So, uh, any of you guys seen Shiro?"

Pidge suddenly stumbled and Lance caught her with a hand to her elbow. Before Pidge could right herself up on her own, Keith suddenly appeared between them, placing a hand on her back to help her up while fixing Lance an icy glare. Lance pulled away, stunned at the abrupt interruption and probably even more so of the guarded look on Keith's face when he spat, "Keep your hands to yourself, Lance."

No one said anything for a second, shocked by Keith's sudden and thinly-veiled threat. As always, Lance recovered first, meeting Keith's glare with one of his own. It was times like these that Hunk wished the Latin part in him wouldn't get so riled up and territorial, and if Hunk weren't so worried about dropping the trays, he would've wedged himself between the two of them before a fight started.

"Or what,  _mullet_ ," Lance said, voice sharp even though his lips curled into a snarl. "You gonna punch me for trying to help a friend?"

"Okay, stop," Pidge huffed and she placed herself between them. Hunk's eyes jumped to Keith's face and saw another flash of the unexpected pass over his eyes. It was almost too much at once, but Hunk swore he saw Keith look at Pidge with a mixture of hurt and tenderness. Hunk blinked and it was gone because Keith decided then to look away from Pidge and glare back into Lance's eyes with too much fire. "What is the  _matter_ with you?"

"Me?!" Keith and Lance both chimed before resuming their staring match.

"Both of you," Hunk said and the trio looked back at him as if just realizing he was standing there the whole time. "I get it, we're all tired and cranky, and in my case, starving. So if we could just make it through five minutes without unnecessarily acting like territorial duflaxes maybe we'd all feel better."

"Hey, don't look at me, Keith started it," Lance said, jerking his chin in Keith's direction.

"Enough!!" Pidge barked, squeezing her fingers over the bridge of her nose under her glasses. "I am  _way_ not in the mood to deal with you two acting like you did four  _years ago_. We're all adults now so can you two find it in you to not act like a pair of fucking fifteen-year-olds?"

Hunk reeled just as Lance whirled his head at Pidge. It was rare to hear Pidge swear, even rarer for her to swear so profoundly. Hunk knew Pidge well enough to know she didn't swear unless she was under stress or severely lacking in a good night's sleep. The moment alone was enough to warn him of her current state. Another tense silence filled the space between them when Keith suddenly looked at Lance and nodded.

"Sorry," he said. Hunk could've cried in relief.

Lance pursed his lips, "Whatever, let's just get to the hull."

Without another word, the group shuffled down the hallway. Hunk was displeased to note the tension had spread to mask all of them. The rest of the trip went by silently and Hunk's eyes finally traveled back up toward Keith, eyebrows furrowing and while he hated to agree with baseless assumptions... something told him Lance wasn't wrong.

* * *

 

It took Coran a solid three ticks to come up with a good enough excuse to get Allura's gawking expression to a calmer look.

"C-Coran!!" Allura's voice went from shocked to completely horrified, and Coran winced and grimaced, and did everything you would do when someone discovered a secret that wasn't ever meant to be unearthed. "What have you done to Shiro?!"

Cleaning up the lab had been the easy part once Keith and Pidge had safely made their get-away. Coran worked then to stash away any sign of his experiments on the serum and to hide any and all holographic signs that an experiment was even happening in the first place that, in all fairness, he sort of forgot about Shiro until Allura stood in front of his lab awaiting an entrance. He panicked. 

Running this way and that, Coran settled on tossing a sheet over the pod before wiping his gloved hands on his shirt and slicked his hair back with a quick swipe under the water dispenser. A quick greeting and semi-nervous fidgeting from his part did nothing to persuade Allura to keep her examinations within a quick scan of the lab. Nope, she crossed the threshold, asking quite without beating around the bush (as the earthlings say) and immediately began looking around the lab for any signs of... whatever she was looking for.

Coran did his best, really, he did. He kept himself fairly calm, even going as far as distracting her with data he had gained after pinching Keith and Pidge with their vaccinations. Unfortunately, as soon as he did so, the sheet inside the pod room had fallen and the movement was more than enough to catch the Princess's sharp attention. When Coran had turned to show Allura the numbers of Pidge's vaccination record, it had been too late. Allura was standing in front of the pod with a dumbfounded expression before screaming.

He rushed in, stopping her from pressing the emergency release mechanism and letting Shiro out, and stepped between her and the pod.

"I assure you, Princess," Coran said, smiling as gently as he could. "Everything is alright!"

A single tick split between Allura looking up at Shiro's shocked, frozen and wide-eyed expression before turning a frigid, no-nonsense look right at Coran. Coran flinched when she glared at him

"Explain. Now."

Coran swallowed thickly before clearing his voice. His mind plucked an idea from the maelstrom of chaos and ran with it. So, he heaved a heavy sigh and nodded.

"Very well, I'm afraid I haven't been forthright with you. Shiro and I have been running tests."

Allura arched a brow, but her expression softened into one of piqued interest. "Tests? On what?"

"Well, recently he's been telling me how he'd like to further enhance his understanding of his Galra arm. While we've been able to many new things, he had feared he didn't understand it completely so...I decided to run a few tests that run the cerebral mechanism of the technology and cross-referenced it with technology on the ship with how it connects and enhances his multi-neural reflexes as well as compacting his day to day function."

Allura crossed her arms, and he could see her registering the information with some trepidation. Right, need to drill it in a little more...

"If he's doing so willingly, why does he look like that, then?" Allura asked.

Coran fought the urge to sweat and placed a palm on her shoulder soothingly. "That's actually something I've been meaning to fix. I was giving him a quick break when I ended up freezing him sort of at the wrong moment. It's pretty funny if you think about it!" he finished by laughing.

Allura frowned at him before looking at Coran and sighing. "...Very well... I'm not sure what this is all about but can you wake him now? We need to all meet in the Hull soon."

"I'm afraid I can't," Coran said. "I sort of gave him a dose and his body is still processing it so I wouldn't want to wake him and have to deal with the side effects. They aren't bad just unpleasant, and I doubt he'd want me to embarrass him by having everyone be a witness to all that. You know how earthlings can get with embarrassment... right?"

Allura bit her lips, running her palms down her arms before looking up at the pod and placing a hand on its surface where Shiro had been reaching out.

"I don't understand why he wouldn't talk to me about this..." she said quietly and Coran wasn't certain whether or not to interject. Allura turned and looked at him. "You're sure that's all that's with him?"

"Absolutely sure," Coran said, inwardly clenching his fists and jumping for joy. "Come now, we'll fill him in later!"

"How long will it take before he's ready to come out?" Allura asked, following Coran as he gently led her out of the room.

"Uh..." Coran trailed off, mind drawing a blank at her curious expression. "I would say a few vargas... possibly more."

Allura blinked at him in surprise, "That's unusual, why so long?"

"Just to be safe. I want to make sure the drug I administered goes through him completely. It's more a safety precaution than anything!" 

Pidge would be so proud, Coran thought with confidence. Who knew he'd be such a great BS'er?

Allura ran a hand through her hair before nodding, "Alright, Coran. Let's get going. I'm sure the others are already waiting for us in the main hull."

"Right after you, Princess!"

Coran hurried around the lab, pressing details on panels and finishing up some last minute precautions--like going back into the pod room and extending the hours on the timer in the pod.

"A few more vargas shouldn't hurt..." he mumbled to himself, throwing a quick look where Shiro stared ahead in shock. "It'll be good for you, Shiro! You'll feel like you've had a full night's rest and everything."

With that, Coran settled his own nerves and pressed the last commands into the system before hurrying out the door and following Allura out the door. The doors slid shut and Coran fell in step beside her, chatting about expectations and what the planet Hytaxia had in store for them, and he was so relieved in doing so that he failed to notice how the locking mechanism in his office failed to contact completely.

Oh well, it's not like anyone was planning on going in there anytime soon... right?


	10. Chapter 10

Wrong.

So wrong. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Now the thing about Alteans is that they're emotive creatures. Years upon years, generations upon generations of exploring, diplomatic missions, and peacekeeping throughout the galaxy allowed them to develop a key ability in noticing if and when the atmosphere between people was right or not for negotiations. This? The moment the main hull doors opened, Coran was slammed by a wall of tension a yard thick. That alone was more than enough to feed his instincts that more was at play here. Being alive for as long as Coran has been (being arguably the oldest of everyone in the group) he was able to spot the predicament the very instant he and Allura walked in and witnessed all four paladins standing and eating in a deafening silence.

Pidge, as expected, was sitting in her chair, picking at a plate of food as her fingers sped over the hologram keyboard at speeds faster than light. Her tight aura was expected after several days of poor sleep and extreme duress (as far as dealing with an aggressively enamored Keith could entail). A glance over at Keith, he was sulking rather dramatically in his chair, body drooped so far down his head was practically the only thing on his back rest. Every so often he'd toss a glance at Pidge and look away, sulking ever harder. His situation was something Coran could feel tug at his heartstrings in a purely guilty way.

What he didn't understand was Hunk and Lance's source of tension. Lance looked exhausted and put off, throwing shadowed glances over at Pidge and Keith, eyes furrowed in suspicion. Hunk looked aggravated, his plate already bare and wiped clean of food. A quick glance and Coran spotted a small stack of plates near Allura's station and judging by the number he couldn't help but swallow thickly. (Who knows? Perhaps Hunk will leap at the chance at eating the food clearly intended for Shiro?)

"Good morning," Allura called out and Coran felt the tension stretch as the group turned to appraise them.

"Morning," Hunk was the only one to respond, the rest either grunted or mumbled in reply. Allura raised a brow before glancing over at Coran who swallowed down residual nerves with a shrug.

_"Earthlings,_ _"_ Coran mouthed, shaking his head. Allura sighed.

"I'd appreciate your attention," Allura began, voice steady and her gaze tactful. The others looked at her. "We'll be landing on Hytaxia within the next few vargas."

"Hold on," piped up Lance, his expression critical as he glanced between Allura and Coran. "Where's Shiro? Shouldn't he be here right now?"

Pidge's typing (as it had continued uninterrupted this entire time) stopped abruptly. Coran cleared his throat and took a step forward.

"Shiro is currently in a pod inside of my office. He and I have been working on a few...experiments in concern to his Galra technology. He's not due to come out for a while."

"So, for this mission, we'll just have to work without him," Allura concluded. "Not like that's anything new."

Lance pursed his lips but said nothing. Coran breathed out a slight sigh of relief and Pidge resumed her typing.

"Would this actually count as a 'mission' mission?" Hunk made air quote motions along with his question.

"Not exactly," Allura explained as she took her place in her station. The hologram light blinked into life over her, covering her in a pale glow as she brought up the desired maps and graphics up on the main screen. "This is more of a repair and recharge excursion. Hytaxia was one of the few planets the Galra did not aggressively invade throughout the millenia. It's home to millions of species of flora and fauna that function under a hive mind of sorts managed by the planet itself. You could say the planet itself is an organism and those in its care live with it."

"So like a Balmera?" Hunk asked.

"Yes and no," Allura said. "Balmera's are living creatures and can die if they are over harvested. Hytaxia, much like other planets in this sector, is more of a complex intelligence. It responds to energies higher than can be easily explained."

"Which is why the Galra have been unable to conquer it," Coran continued and pulled out the gun-like contraption he had used to administer the drug to Pidge and Keith earlier, as well as two vials. "This planet and all its living creatures can sense if there is ill-intentions aimed at it and will actively defend itself. The vaccine--which isn't even a vaccine if we're being honest, it's more a relaxant in a manner of speaking--which I'll be administering to you will allow you to integrate yourself along with the populations, and make it easier on you all to handle the planet's influence."

"Influence?" Pidge asked.

"Planets of this nature have been claimed to have a will of their own," Allura said. "Though nothing has been officially proven, better safe than sorry."

"Why do I get the feeling this can go south in a bad way?" Lance asked with a groan, extending an arm as soon as Coran approached him with the syringe. "This isn't going to make me turn blue is it?"

"You'll be fine so long as you don't get too friendly with the flowers," Coran chuckled and pressed the gun's mouth to Lance's neck and pressing the trigger. Lance let out a loud shout of alarm, falling over his chair and holding on to his neck. Coran paid him no attention as he approached Hunk and followed the same procedure. Hunk let out a yelp and started rubbing at the spot.

"Don't pick at it!" Coran griped, slapping Hunk's wrist. Hunk groaned in dismay but did as told.

"I recommend you all do a few light exercises once we've concluded," Allura said, placing her hands in front of her. "It'll allow the 'vaccine' to do its job properly once you're all warmed up. We'll be in the planet's airspace in three vargas. Until then, feel free to go about your business."

"Sounds great," Lance sighed, "I've been craving some pull-ups anyway."

"Like you could anyway," Keith said as an after thought. Lance's eyes glinted.

"Is that a challenge?"

Coran noticed with some curiosity how Keith rose from his chair, fixing Lance a fiery look.

"I hope you're ready to mop the floor with that attitude," Keith said walking out the door with Lance in tow.

"Oh the only thing I'm gonna be mopping the floor with is your ass, mullet."

Hunk let out a sigh when the doors opened and closed. "At least it's nice to know not much has changed."

"Indeed," Coran mused, shooting Pidge a curious look. For the oddest reason, she was drooped on her chair, eyes downcast.

"You know," Allura said as she headed out the door, "I'd like to join them."

Hunk let out a snort and hurried after, "Now this I gotta see!"

The doors hissed open and shut for the third time that day, leaving Coran alone with Pidge. He crossed the space toward her, arms behind his back, fingers curling open and closed. "Looks like he could be coming along all right? Back to normal even?"

"No," Pidge said stoutly. "He's just..." she paused to rub her eyes under her glasses. "I don't know... this is too much, Coran."

Seeing her sitting there like a saddened puynyil cub tugged at Coran's heartstrings and he sighed. He stood close and patted her head comfortingly.

"I truly am sorry about all this, Pidge. None of this was my intention, even if it did provide some incredibly fascinating results!"

Pidge said nothing, keeping her eyes down to the floor. Coran wilted a little at her lack of expression. He had hoped she would glare up at him or swear to punch him. Earthlings have limits after all.

"When we were walking here..." Pidge began, "He got real close. I thought he was going to try to kiss me again... instead, he just started saying all this weird stuff."

Coran cocked a brow, "What sort of weird stuff?"

Her cheeks burned and she sat up, "It doesn't matter. He just... he sounded really convinced about what he was saying. He even almost said that he... whatever, the point is, I stopped him. I couldn't let him say those words. It would make all this way too real and we're already past an uncomfortable point. If we do manage to get him back to normal, will he remember all the stuff he's done and said? Will he even want to talk to me after all that? I don't know if I can take all that."

Coran's lips tightened under his mustache and he reached down to press a gloved hand to her shoulder, "I'm sure this may seem like it can end in all sorts of awful and awkward ways, but that's a bridge we'll have to cross when we get to it. For now, go and get ready for our trip in Hytaxia. You'll still need to keep an eye on him... in case we see any more extreme changes in him."

Pidge nodded, pinching the bridge of her nose with pale fingers. After a while, she stood and silently walked out of the hull leaving Coran alone to dwell on his own thoughts.

Once alone, Coran glanced up at the main screens and let his eyes trace over the large image of a glowing pink and purple planet. Multiple other graphics appeared of much of the flora, the fauna, the people... Coran was about to dismiss the images with a wave of his hand until a single image stopped him short.

His eyes widened, "Hold on a tick..."

A quick wave of his hand later and the image that caught his attention stopped right on the main screen in extreme high definition. An epiphany tidal waved over him, leaving him gawking in awe at the rush of brilliance and ideas that flurried in his mind. He considered the angles, the options, the different sides, and perspectives, but the epiphany remained until Coran could do nothing but grin.

"I think I may have just solved our little problem."

Coran hurriedly swiped the air to transfer all the information he needed into a hologram tablet before turning and swiftly exiting the main hull, leaving it to dwell in the simple silence of space.

* * *

By some odd force of habit, Pidge found herself at the door of the training deck. She blinked, not entirely sure of what she was seeing.

In the center of the deck was Keith and Allura, hands clasped together in an odd sort of way, pushing at one another with their gazes fixed on each other. Where it not for the fact that Keith was grunting and breathing with exertion, Pidge would've guessed they were doing some bizarre sort of dance. Only they weren't moving much at all, just pushing at each other.

On the other side stood Hunk with Lance sprawled on the ground beside him. Pidge made their way towards them, unable to tear her gaze away from Keith and Allura and the fierce expression on Keith's face. Allura was smiling up at him, eyebrows curled with determination, but she didn't look the least bit bothered. A bead of sweat rolled down Keith's forehead and he let out another hard grunt, the muscles in his arms tightened and shook.

"Can someone explain why they're doing... this?" Pidge asked once she was next to Hunk, gesturing vaguely in their direction.

"Strength test," Hunk said simply, shrugging with one shoulder.

"Ah," Pidge responded, but that didn't answer much at all. "Why?"

Hunk made a noncomittal noise and Pidge crossed her arms. A moment later, Lance groaned and sat up. "What happened?"

"You were trying to push Allura and ended up passing out," Hunk supplied easily. Lance sat up straighter, alarmed.

"Wha--no, I didn't!"

"Totally did."

Pidge leaned past Hunk to look down at Lance who was now pouting, cheeks pink. Lance huffed and pushed himself up to his feet. "Whatever, how long did I go for?"

"About a couple of minutes," Hunk said.

"And Keith?" Pidge heard herself ask and felt her stomach wobble when she realized how her eyes were following the curves of his arms more certainly.

"Bit longer."

Lance crossed his arms, "How long is a bit longer?"

Hunk lifted a hand, revealing a ticker. The numbers translated into recognizable symbols and Pidge pulled her lower lip between her teeth. The ticker flashed past four doboshes and was onto five.

"This much."

Lance scowled and muttered, "Figures."

A moment later, Allura let out a soft laugh and suddenly Keith was on his knees, arms shaking with effort while Allura continued to push. "Do you yield?"

"N-never!" Keith said through clenched teeth. Allura must've found it amusing because she grinned wider and gave another push and Keith was thrown onto his back. He let out a sharp gasp and Allura straightened up. A strange jolt fed through Pidge's legs, making her take a few steps forward.

"Sometime's the best victory is when there is none!" Allura said, placing her hands on her hips. Keith groaned.

"You guys should all know by now," Keith said as he pushed himself up, "I'm not one to quit."

"That'll be your undoing if you're not careful," Allura said just as he looked up. Pidge stiffened, undeniably caught beneath his gaze. They were probably a couple of yards away from one another, yet even he could tell she had made an approach--even if it was unknowingly--but what made something in Pidge still with surprise was the ability she could just tell his gaze softened and brows furrowed.

Keith let out a small huff of bitter amusement and said, "You're probably right about that."

Pidge's teeth sunk tighter over her lip, a flash of heat bloomed through her body like a fever. She looked away just as Allura extended a hand for him to take.  _Stupid Keith. Stupid Serum._ Pidge cursed the entire circumstances all over again. She loathed the way this continued to surprise her, to fill her with emotions she couldn't possibly decipher after a full night or so of unrest. He keeps doing things that leave her reeling and, frankly, it's starting to egg her on to doing something incredibly stupid. Running away has done nothing for her, and trying to face it with Coran has been a nightmare after another. No...

Even if she was afraid of the words Keith almost said, or the fact that there would be no going back to normal from this, Pidge was tired of having this spiral out of her control. She made her own destiny, dammit, and if this meant finding her own way to fix Keith once and for all, then she should've been doing that from the damn start.

No more running, Pidge thought defiantly.

When she glanced back up Keith was nodding to something Allura was saying, lips quirking with a smile that's become more commonplace since the first time they've met. Suddenly, Allura extended a hand and placed it on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

Another surge of something filled Pidge then and next thing she knew she was in front of them, grabbing Keith by the wrist and yanking.

"Keith, I need you for something real quick."

Pidge ignored the surprised exclamations from the group as she tugged Keith out of the training deck. Her chest was an angry scribble again but she focused on walking, making sure to put one step after the other until they were way out of sight and out of mind.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on or are you going to keep towing me like a broken leisure cruiser?"

Pidge stopped, fingers tight around his wrist and torn between squeezing around the heat of his skin or ripping away from the cool material of his gloves. She sucked in a breath and pried her fingers one by one before letting go completely. With a whirl, Pidge turned around and faced Keith.

He was too close.

The air in her chest went tight, caught between the scribble's writhings and her own surprise that  _she had no idea how to explain her actions just now._ His eyes looked down at her, expectantly, softly, and every so often they'd flicker down at the line of her mouth. He was still sweating and while that would normally leave him reeking, the smell wafting off of him wasn't unpleasant. It was sharp, tangy, definitely the smell of sweat, but something crisper clung to its undertone and Pidge fought with herself to draw more of it into her lungs.

"F-from now on you need to stay with me," Pidge said and kicked herself mentally for stuttering. "I shouldn't have to repeat myself but I will if I have to. You need to stop going off on your own until we can get this settled."

"Can't get enough of me now, huh?" His words weren't surprising, considering, but the tone in there was. Pidge couldn't help but catch a hint of steel within them and how his eyes sharpened over her.

"When we touch down on Hytaxia, you'll stick with me. We still need to monitor you, make sure nothing weird is going on," she continued. "Don't make me get a leash or anything, all right?"

Keith's lips quirked up again, smirking. "What's this really about, Pidge?"

Pidge scowled, "I just said--"

"No, no, I got that part. I'm curious about something."

"What?"

Keith tilted his head, "What you did back there. You weren't jealous, were you?"

Pidge blanched, face falling with disgusted incredulity. "You  _must_ be joking."

"You seemed to rip me away from Allura with no problem at all," Keith said and there was something mighty smug about him that made Pidge want to punch him. In the nose. Over and over again.

Pidge drew in a seething breath, "I'm not even going to bother gathering any bit of intelligence to answer something as  _ridiculous_ as that."

"Can't be bothered to face the truth, can you?" Keith asked, "It's fine I get it. But you should know that there are better ways to own up to the fact that there  _is_ something going on between us right now."

"Because there IS!" Pidge snapped, then turned bright red when her words processed in both their ears. "I-I mean--UGH! Not like that! Stop smiling, you stupid jackass, I mean about the  _serum!_ "

"Sure, sure," Keith said, a delighted gleam twinkled in his eyes. "Say whatever you want to make yourself feel better."

" _You--!"_

Keith suddenly started walking, casual strides that had a bit of pep in them that made Pidge want to trip him. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Wha--hey! You don't just up and leave like that! I'm talking to you!" Pidge harped as she hurried after him. To her aggravation, he picked up the pace. "Keith, get your ass back here! I'm not through with you--UGH!"

Keith let out a huff that might have been a laugh and took off running forcing Pidge to push her legs into a sprint right after him. She followed him down the halls, blowing off steam as they ran and he dodged her every attempt to catch him. By the time they reached the showers, Keith was grinning and Pidge was swearing and panting after him.

"I'm gonna kill you," she huffed, glancing up to glare up at him, Keith just chuckled.

"Coran did say we all needed a warm up. I figured you needed the help."

At Pidge's flat stare Keith sighed.

"You've been super uptight," he said, "You need to learn to relax."

"You are seriously the  _last_ person who can say that to me," Pidge grunted. When she straightened she saw him stand in front of her again, this time, he had reached down to grab her hand. There was something in his eyes that was mischievous, coiling with amusement yet taunting her with a lure, like a beckoning. Then his voice took on a deep, sultry tone.

"Want to join me?"

Pidge snatched her hand from his hands, eyes wide. Keith snickered and shook his head. Just like that the curl of whatever-the-hell-that-was disappeared behind a teasing smile. "I'm just saying, you look like you need a shower just as bad as I do."

"Take your stupid shower and don't do anything stupid," Pidge huffed, crossing her arms.

"Pidge, I was just joking," Keith said. "I'm not gonna try anything anymore without your permission, promise."

"You've promised to behave before," Pidge replied curtly, crossing her arms. She was glad that her breathing was returning to normal. "I can't fully trust you when you've been known to break it recently."

Keith's eyes softened again and he suddenly looked serious, "Then I'll do everything I can to regain that trust."

"Keith," Pidge said, already beginning another spiel about one protest or another. He took a step forward and the protests ended.

"I'm serious." The scribble picked up again, twisting and writhing with renewed vigor. Keith's expression was so open and honest it made the protests in her mind die out. "I'll win you back, Pidge."

Then he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, and all Pidge could think about was him getting her sweat on his mouth before he disappeared around the door to the main baths. It frustrated her but Pidge couldn't help but sigh. Her forehead tingled from where he had kissed her and her chest continued to twist. Pidge turned and leaned up against the nearest wall, waiting for the pounding in her heart to subside.

When it didn't, it was shortly after she realized that she hadn't corrected the last thing he had said to her.

__"Ugh," Pidge groaned, letting the back of her head hit the metal walls with a thud. _"Quiznak."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who even knows where this is going anymore lol


	11. Chapter 11

The Planet of Hytaxia was not what Pidge expected when they touched down. What usual enthusiasm that would've had her plastered to the screens and windows was rendered mostly dry. Despite the result of the drug Coran had administered (which allowed her nerves to chill for five seconds) Pidge still felt heightened, rubbing with annoyance at her eyes and picking at the leftovers of Hunk's lovingly made breakfast. Dodging the occasional flirty wink from Keith didn't help any. He had devolved to sending her the looks of affection when he was convinced no one else was watching, much to her chagrin.

Which she was certain Lance was chalking up her sour attitude to monthly bitchiness (even though she's informed him multiple times that Altean medicine has all but cured her of the consequences of PMS).

As soon as they entered the atmosphere, Hunk and Lance took off towards the main entrance, talking animatedly in they way they do best. As expected, they glanced over their shoulders to her when they realized she wasn't close behind.

"Aren't you coming?" Lance asked, jerking a thumb at the open door of the main hull. Pidge hesitated, tossing a glance at Keith. He was busy discussing something with Allura, who had decided to speak to him about something or another. Her chest clenched at the sight of Allura leaning over Keith's chair. Pidge inwardly froze. _I'm only anxious because he could just do some other outburst like that stunt in the training deck. Chill._ With a grunt of thinly veiled exasperation, Pidge swiped at her screens to disappear as she followed behind Lance.

"Yeah, right behind you." 

Lance tucked his hands in his pockets as Pidge approached with a sullene expression. She expected him to make another comment but was surprised when he looked past her and said, "Hey, Keith, let's go."

"Yeah, yeah," was his response. Something must've flashed over Pidge's face when he did that because Lance caught it and immediately arched a brow at her.

"What?" she asked, and couldn't stop the defensive tone in her throat in time. Lance straightened away from her and shrugged with one shoulder.

"Nothing," he said as he began to walk on ahead. "Just wondering. You two seem a little closer than usual."

"You're imagining it," Pidge replied curtly, scratching her nails into her palms just as Keith said;

"That's because we are."

Lance paused midstep, glancing behind him to see Pidge throw Keith a scathing look, one Keith appeared completely unaffected by. Lance opened his mouth, sucked in a breath before spinning around and shaking his head.

"Nope. I don't wanna know," he said, waving a hand. It would've been great to hear that except as they made their way down the hall Pidge caught Lance throwing a glance over his shoulder at her, eyes narrowed curiously. Pidge fought the urge to click her tongue to her teeth audibly.

_Great. More suspicion. Wonderful._

To her relief, the walk to the main entrance of the castle was uneventful. Hunk and Coran were waiting for them by the main entrance, chatting up what looked like a jovial conversation.

"Oh my gosh—Hey—Lance!" Hunk called out once they were within earshot. He looked positively excited. "Lance, you won't believe this! They have  _chocolate_ on this planet!"

"Whoa—for real??" Lance physically jumped at the announcement, running the last few steps to where Coran was watching them with amusement. "Like actual— _actual—_ chocolate??"

Hunk grinned widely, "Guess so! Turns out they have a series of plants here that secrete the basic chemical compound that makes up chocolate and the locals basically live off the stuff!"

"Dude, that's awe—wait," Lance paused, lifting his hands in a stopping gesture before squinting at Coran. "How do we know it won't kill us? Like... like some kind of killer chocolate thing that makes us think it's chocolate until we try it and end up dying?"

Before Hunk could respond, Pidge brushed past Lance, nudging his side with her elbow as she did. "Well, it's a good thing we've got you, Lance. Then someone can try it out and we can rule out that possibility."

"Harr, harr. I'm not going to be a guinea pig for anyone again, Pidge."

The main doors parted with the smooth sound of metal effortlessly peeling apart. A strong gust of air burst in, slamming into them with the rich and pungent scent of plant life. The chill of the Castle's air was abruptly overwhelmed by a clinging heat and humidity. Pidge's glasses immediately fogged up as a result and she huffed with annoyance as she hurried to pull them off and wipe the perspiration off the lenses. The burst of air pulled more insistently, revealing a steady push of wind that pressed her clothes to her figure. As soon as Pidge slid her glasses back on she found Lance, Hunk, and Coran already walking down the causeway with appreciative awe.

Her focus on the others quickly fell away the moment she took a full look at the view ahead. The skies were a deep and soft green, embellished by golden clouds that glimmered in their lazy travels overhead. Distant flocks of strange flying creatures with multiple wings and antennae took to the skies in odd formations that reminded her far more of bees than of birds. The trees ranged in colors, displaying a plethora of hues and textures that stood out like a mosaic and made it nearly impossible to look away without seeing something more interesting to find within their flora. The grass beneath rose in long stalks that swayed in the breeze more like water than plant life. It was like looking at a mirror image of Earth, but that comparison was cold and not at all close enough to do the scene justice. Pidge's jaw fell as she took a few steps and drew in a deep breath.

Something sweet lingered in the air, messing with the metallic tang that always came from the Castle's engines when they touched down somewhere. The smell, once pungent and almost overwhelming had mellowed out and it was so prevalent, Pidge swore she could taste it. Like the aftertaste of sweet kuy tea when it sticks to your teeth.

Since her connection to the Green Lion in Olkarion, Pidge's inherent distaste for nature had been overcome and she learned to take a deeper appreciation for the complexities new ecosystems displayed before her. While Olkarion would forever be her favorite place in the universe—since nothing could ever beat the ecstatic connection of technology to nature itself—this new planet was steadily becoming a top favorite. If not for the humidity, it would definitely have made it into the top three.

"Aww yeah this is fantastic!" Lance whooped with exhilaration, drawing Pidge's eyes back to him. She found him spinning around to sweep his jacket off his body in a sweeping motion that was rather elegant. The sight made her smile and Pidge's earlier irritation towards him curbed to see him breathe in deeply and exhale with gusto. It was hard to stay annoyed at Lance for long, even if it came back around again.

"This place is great, Coran!" Hunk bounded close behind Coran. "Are we anywhere close to the chocolate plants?"

"Not yet, Hunk!" Coran laughed. Pidge, Keith, and Allura made their way down the causeway just as he turned around, spinning his mustache with one hand while gesturing grandly to the scenery with the other. "While the Hixaplia plant is fairly common here, the Hytaxians--known as the Yul'ocmea in this region of the planet--are very jealous over it and do not share it easily. That's one sign we've made great connections with them in aligning them to our Coalition efforts if they agree to grant us some of the crop!"

"Play nice with the locals and we get the chocolate," Lance grinned and saluted. "Got it!"

"This region of Hytaxia is very warm and always prone to storms that generally last a couple of minutes to a couple of days," Allura piped in, adjusting her hair through her bun to pull away stray strands of hair that were sticking to her neck over the humidity. "I believe the storms are similar to what you have on your home planet, Earth, only it's not so much water but a sweet liquid that can cause some strange reactions in some species. That's mostly why Coran gave you the injections earlier."

"What kind of reactions?" Lance asked.

"It really depends on the species," Allura replied, lowering her arms just as they reached the ground. "For some, it can cause severe anxiety and nausea. Yet other species become more hyperactive. We're not too sure how it can affect you and we don't want a repeat of last time. Don't we, Lance."

"Ugh, yeah, no thanks."

"The Yul'ocmea aren't particularly fond of the storms unlike their counterparts the Hial'noi," Allura continued. The smirk she threw Lance after teasing him faded to a warm smile. "As soon as a storm comes in they immediately go into their home--a network of trees that connect through the roots underground--and stay in until the surge passes. They have fascinating eyes that allow them to see in the dark fairly well, yet not well enough that they avoid bumping into one another. Due to this, they're naturally very social and communicate through touch rather than speech when they are safe inside."

"Are they anything at all like the Olkari?" Pidge asked. "Like, do they have some kind of connection through the planet like the Olkari?"

"In a sense," Allura replied, smiling wider when Pidge's enthusiasm began to show. "They don't necessarily have the skills to manipulate science and mathematics to create things directly from nature. The hivemind of the planet is deeply connected to its people, its plants, and its water. Yet, it's more unconscious and more deeply ingrained into them than even they can explain. You'll just have to wait and see."

"It's a shame Shiro isn't around to see this," Lance said suddenly. Pidge's enthusiasm slammed into a wall and she stumbled a bit despite herself. A hand quickly caught her around the arm, though it was unnecessary. Pidge glanced up to see Keith looking down at her, eyeing her with a smile. It didn't help calm her and Pidge said nothing as she pulled her arm out of his grip none-too-gently. She shot a look at Coran's back as they walked, catching the tips of his ears twitch once stiffly, his back was straighter than usual.

That's right, they only have a few hours until their little lie falls apart and they have no other excuse to keep Shiro trapped in the pod back in Coran's lab. If it weren't for Allura's complete trust in Coran (that's going to be another bomb waiting to go off on them), that time frame would be far less than what they can afford. All Pidge could do at this moment was hope to whatever god was watching over them would show them kindness and allow them to reap as much as they could from this little trip as possible.

Their trek was a short fifteen minutes that was fully swallowed up by Lance and Hunk tossing questions back and forth between Coran and Allura. Pidge piped in every so often but found herself unable to fully hear in on their responses since Lance's comment about Shiro. Keith's footsteps at her side was a small comfort at least. He wasn't trying to flirt with her right now, more like and that was a kindness she was grateful for.

When they arrived, they stood before a curious curl of trees arranged in a very neat and uniform circle. Its trees and branches melted together into knots that looked artificially constructed, and every so often the trees material would shimmer and bleed into other colors that fed the illusion of movement. It was entrancing. At the base of the trees stood a particularly smaller tree than the others, the base of its trunk parted to reveal an entrance embellished with shimmering stones and artfully designed like something Pidge had seen from a Lord of The Rings movie.

A few people stood just in front of it, dressed in robes that were oddly plain in comparison to the splendor of the forest. Their clothing stuck to ivory and deep sapphire colors and had a texture that looked like a mixture of satin and silk. The humanoid aliens were as tall as Coran and very slender with skin the color of deep orange, or champagne. Their long hair matched their skin tone and was pleated into thick box braids that were tied together with shimmering stones and held up from their heads. Their clothes were somewhat similar to the Romans with the off-the-shoulder style, yet had thick sashes like obis. Upon closer inspection, Pidge found their clothes to be strangely sheer up close and revealed markings over their chests, hip bones, and kneecaps.

The champagne colored Yul'ocmea in the center approached stepping forward and extended their hands outward, palms out in a welcoming gesture. The center of their forehead suddenly changed to a deep sage color, and they closed their large slanted, almond-shaped eyes. 

"K'ul," they spoke, and their voice was airy yet carried a clicking near the back of their throat. "Welcome Paladins of Voltron."

"K'ul," Allura replied and stepped past Coran, extending her arms in the same way the Yul'ocmea did. The crew watched curiously as Allura breached the normal distance for a greeting, pressing her fingers to the alien's, her body stretched up (possibly through the means of shapeshifting) for her forehead to meet their host. When they parted, the Yul'ocmea's expression was open and bright, their lips parting in a smile that nearly reached their long extended ears. "We receive and give unto you."

"We receive and give unto you, Princess," they responded. "We are Yul'ocmea. My Yul is Yu'tey. I was born of grass and heblis plant, the star Yiitea is my family."

"Thank you, Yu'tey." Allura pressed her palm to her chest and closed her eyes. "I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I was born of sincline and juniberry seed. The Star Ama is my family."

Yu'tey pressed their hand to their chest and bowed. "Ten thousand phoebs and the universe still weeps for your planet, Princess. The star system Yuuak was once a most precious part of our constellation of Pli. Its absence has never been healed."

"I accept your grief as mine," Allura said before turning and motioning to the others. "These are the Paladins. Allow me to teach them of your greetings."

Yu'tey's forehead shifted from the sage green to a stripe of blue. The sclera of their eyes was hardly visible to their immense teal pupils. "Take the time required."

Allura turned around and Pidge saw a color fade from her forehead before she could guess what it was.

"Come forth, Paladins. Introduce yourself with your race, your name, a few plants from your home, and the star associated with your birth."

"Uh," Lance's face fell. "What if we don't know it?"

"Dude just use the constellation, they won't know," Pidge said, wrinkling her nose. "I can't believe you were a fighter pilot for that long without knowing your stars."

"I know my stars!" Lance shot back. "Sorry if I haven't had the need to remember them in the past four years."

"Who'll go first?" Allura asked before their bickering escalated.

"Shouldn't Coran go next?" Hunk chimed in. Allura shook her head.

"Coran has to go last due to his age. The oldest in the group usually is introduced last."

"Guess I'll go first then," Pidge said stepping forward. A shot of nerves made her belly wobble when Yu'tey's eyes suddenly landed on her directly. Not a feeling you can get easily used to even if you've meet several hundred species of aliens already. Having watched Allura's posture when she approached carefully, Pidge assumed the same movements with her hands and tried to stretch as tall as she could.

"K'ul," she said. Yu'tey looked pleased and approached.

"K'ul," they said, and extended their hands to her. A warm breeze made a strand of hair on Pidge's face wedge itself before her glasses and eye, but she dared not flip it out of the way in fear of angering their host. Yu'tey bowed down just as their fingers met. An odd tingle shot into her hands as soon as their skin touched and Pidge's body gave a small jolt but she didn't recoil. Not like she could have anyway, it felt like her fingers had become glued to Yu'tey's. Pidge sucked in a breath when Yu'tey's forehead met hers and Pidge closed her eyes at the proximity. A sudden wave of warmth flashed through her with the intensity of a fever but as soon as Yu'tey pulled away it disappeared as quickly as Pidge exhaled.

_Wow. That was... interesting._

Pidge cleared her throat, curling her fingers a few times at the odd sensation that came. "I am Pidge Holt of Planet Earth. I was born of cherry oak and aster pinus. The star of Hamal of Aries is my family...?"

"A long way is your home," Yu'tey said, voice clicking fondly. They extended a hand and brushed the lock between her glasses and eye away gently. On the skin of her face, Yu'tey's skin felt cool and smooth like the flesh of a snake, though there were no visible scales. "The dust in you hails from a part of the universe that is almost unknown to my kind. Your greeting was honorable."

Pidge smiled. "Thank you, Yu'tey. What happened when you touched my skin?"

"I connected you to our Yuma, the great Mind of Hytaxia. This welcome is necessary for new folk of other planets when they visit us. Without it, the Mind cannot know for certain whether you are Mind-kind or Di'lu--a word that means Unknowing. Anyone who enters without the greeting is quickly removed from the Mind's presence. For some that fate is death, for others, it is a fate worse than death."

Pidge blinked, swallowing thickly. "Uh, that's really great to know."

"You remind me of heblis," Yu'tey said, and they sounded cheerier. "Your scent is similar."

"Oh, uh... thanks?"

Yu'tey let out a series of trills that were joined by the others behind her. When Pidge stepped back to allow Lance to do his greeting, she realized then that it was their way of laughing. It was an odd sound but it was pretty cool in its own way. Allura stepped up close behind her as Lance approached and extended his hands and was quickly asked by Yu'tey to adjust his fingers—as he had approached unknowingly with the intention to mate (which made Hunk guffaw rather loudly). Pidge snickered under her breath when Lance's ears flushed pink and he did as he was told before Yu'tey bowed down to press their forehead to his.

"You impressed Yu'tey," Allura's voice curled in Pidge's ear. Pidge nearly swung her chin around in surprise. Allura beamed down at her, obviously proud. "This is very good, Pidge! Your impression will make it much easier for us to establish an alliance."

"Was it really that big of a deal?" Pidge cocked her head and brushed a damp lock from around her neck over her shoulder.

"Of course!" Allura said, straightening. "It's one thing for the Yul'ocmea to greet you, it's another for them to compare you to the plant of their birth. This is a great sign."

"Uh, Pidge?" Lance called over his shoulder. "What are the stars in Leo again?"

Pidge, Hunk, and Keith let out a chorus of groans together. To their relief, Yu'tey and the other Yul'ocmea released another group of trills, sounding a little more amused than the earlier. Allura giggled as Coran stifled a laugh that nearly burst from behind his mustache. Well, at least this wasn't so bad.

* * *

 

After introductions were out of the way, Yu'tey appraised them with a look that made Pidge's chest feel warm. It was a curious sensation and Pidge could only chalk it up as the result of the homeopathic link established through their first touch that must have acted as the proxy in which they were uploaded into the planet's essence. She understood why it was difficult to describe as anything further than unconscious. There was no easy or simple way to describe the odd connection she now had with the Yul'ocmea, nor how she instinctively knew that Yu'tey was the closest equivalent to a female while the two of the others were more male and the other two were neither.

A bead of sweat dripped down Pidge's forehead and she brushed it off with her sleeve. Despite the warm connection to the locals, Pidge was starting to get anxious to get somewhere dry.

"Before we welcome you into our home," Yu'tey said. "We are curious as to where the renown kindler known as Shiro is. We've heard many tales of the Paladins of Voltron, and Shiro's legend extends past Voltron and into the arenas of the Galra."

Pidge had to admit it was pretty cool that the connection they now shared easily translated Yu'tey's use of the word "kindler" as the nearest equivalent for "warrior." The knowledge that a Kindler was someone who began war on their planet was so instantaneous it felt as if it had been there all along. Fascinating. Yet despite all this, Pidge couldn't help but feel another tug of dread in her belly at the mention of Shiro.

"He's still within the Castle," Allura replied easily, cutting off Coran's nervous start. "I'm afraid he won't be joining us for another few vargas. He's been undergoing a special treatment by Coran."

"Ah—Yes, of course! Treatment!" Coran poked a finger into the air with excess energy. Pidge shot his back a withering glare. "I—uh, he's doing fine! Better even! Should be able to join us very soon!"

"Uu." The sound fell from all the Yul'ocmea and they appeared disappointed. "We have heard a great many things. We hoped to have the fortune of meeting him along with you."

"Of course," Lance said with a snort, lips curling in a wry grin. "Most people do."

"What he means to say," Allura interjected when the Yul'ocmea gave odd looks at Lance at his tone. "Is that his reputation precedes him at a very vast degree. We do hope that this does not discourage you. I can assure you that he no danger to any of you."

"That is not our concern," Yu'tey said, shaking her head. The stones on her hair twinkled beneath the sunlight. "The Galra are no threat to us. Attempts of invading our system have been met with failure and Zarkon has not attempted to destroy us since. We do not believe we are a priority for invasion. Nevertheless, we are not blind to the treacheries his kind can do. Only you," she broke off to look at Keith. "You have traces of stars from a part of the universe we have seen before."

It was the first time Pidge actually turned to look at Keith and what she saw was a wide-eyed expression of surprise. The others looked at him with equal amounts of surprise.

"You have?" he asked.

"Yes, Keith Kogane of Earth," Yu'tey said. "You are not born of sand, but of Luxite. The blade you carry is made from it."

"Luxite isn't found on Earth though," Keith replied, arms slowly unraveling from their usual knot in front of his chest. "I was born there."

"Then your blade must have been the first to touch you at your birth," Yu'tey said. "That is not unusual for the Galra breed you must hail from. You are a most peculiar Kindler. If it is acceptable, we would be greatly appreciative if you allowed us a deeper connection."

Keith said nothing for a moment before glancing over to Allura. She gave him an encouraging nod, her blue eyes wide with hidden excitement at the greater opportunity these new developments were creating for them. He sighed before glancing at Pidge. Pidge was momentarily confused at his digging stare, wondering why he was staring at her so intently. It hit her a moment later, that he was waiting for her to give some kind of permission.

Pidge nodded at him dumbly and Keith looked back at Yu'tey.

"Alright, I'm cool with it." Keith then reached out and placed a hand over Pidge's shoulder. "But only if Pidge is with me during this connection of yours."

Pidge's heart jumped to her throat. The Yul'ocmea exchanged startled looks that rivaled the surprise of the others of their group (save Lance, whose eyes seemed to have narrowed in an odd look of confirmation). A series of colored bled back and forth over their host's foreheads, moving in shapes and hues like excited rorshach paintings.

"Certainly," Yu'tey replied before Pidge's heart could have a chance of dislodging itself from her mouth. "We are honored by your fealty."

And that's when Pidge looked from Keith back to the others and found Allura staring at her. The look in her blue eyes made her feel faint, the dread returning full throttle. There were synapses firing off in Allura's eyes that could only be that of the Princess making a connection Pidge had fought this entire time to avoid. All that effort for secrecy was quickly thrown to the sky. In one fell swoop, the house of cards Pidge had carefully mounted to keep their noses off their scent had been immediately swept away by the force of Keith's blunt condition. No power on any planet could have stopped her from wincing the moment the final card landed on the ground and Allura's eyes took on the expression of someone who's reached a solid (if extremely incorrect) conclusion.

Pidge made no move to removed Keith's hand from her shoulder, uncertain how the Yul'ocmea would perceive it. Instead, she swallowed dryly and hoped the moment would pass before she suffered anymore under it.

"So!" Coran piped up, a little too late for it to count as a rescue. "Shall we proceed inside?"

"Yes, we shall," Yu'tey said, voice trilling with newfound excitement. Pidge felt oddly nauseous by what that excitement could mean. "U'kal, Paladins of Earth and Altea. We welcome you to the Deepening, Yul'axia."

They turned and motioned to the shimmering entranced behind them. The team began to fall in step and despite the fervent desire Pidge had to brush off the awkward moment that came, it failed to fade away. Hunk and Allura shot her quick glances of varying ranges of curiosity and interest, whilst Coran sent her a grimace. Lance was the last to look at her and there was something oddly sly to the way he looked at her that it made a nerve in her elbow twitch with the desire to swing. He turned away before it could manifest into anything conscious and only then did she notice Keith's hand was no longer on her shoulder.

"You ready to go?' he asked her. Pidge bit down on her lower lip hard before taking a few fierce steps ahead. "Pidge?"

"You shouldn't have done that," she said through a tight breath, keeping her eyes on the sapphire grass ahead of her.

"You said you didn't want me out of your sight," he retorted, sounding faintly confused.

Pidge looked up at him as they followed the group at a distance. She couldn't shake the persistent looks the Yul'ocmea pressed on them. "Under  _wraps_ , Keith!" She lowered her voice to a hiss behind clenched teeth. "You might as well have announced to everybody that I'm your girlfriend!"

"And that's... bad?"

"Yes, Keith.  _Very_ bad!" Pidge dug her nails into her palms, finding them trickling with sweat. Never had she ever thought she'd be grateful for the humidity to hide the fact she was feeling more nervous than she had ever felt since this whole quagmire started.

"Oh," he said. Pidge wasn't sure what was more infuriating, the fact this all happened before she could summon up an explanation to draw away suspicions or that fact that none of this seemed to bother him. "Would it help if I—"

"Nope!" Pidge cut him off before he finished the thought. "You've done enough for now. Let's just... get this over with."

Thankfully, Keith said nothing as they crossed the threshold of the large tree entrance. Yet despite his silence, Pidge found herself able to sense his emotions through the connection established by the proxy link of the alien planet. None of it was even remotely apologetic. If anything, she felt something akin to some amusement and even a smugness that was hidden beneath a wall of casual nonchalance. Not for the first time since this started, Pidge threw a very vehement mental curse at the back of Coran's head.

At least, this time, he actually seemed to wince at it. She had that small thing to thank the link for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK!!! 
> 
> *ducks from barrage of tomatoes*


	12. Chapter 12

If ant colonies ever combined with ecstatic art nouveau, Pidge thought, this would be how they looked like.

The livelihood of the Deepening—Yul'axia—was a vibrant energy Pidge would've never guessed was an underground deal. The earth and the very roots of the trees behaved so harmoniously it was too perfect to have been built with the regular workmanship one would expect from human hands. While Pidge could agree that humanity's creativity knew no bounds, just the grand hall (as it seems to be the best way to describe it) exceeded anything she could possibly imagine.

It was beautiful. And that word alone paled in comparison.

Roots of the trees spiraled below into pillars that sustained the space and gave it breath, somewhat reminding her of the feats she'd seen the Olkari do by blending science with nature. Only in her mind and heart she somehow knew that this was not done by the will of the Yul'ocmea. There was a higher intelligence on this planet than Pidge had given it previous credit for. Bioluminescent creatures and fungi moved along the walls as the group walked down the incline that led to the major mouth of the many caverns interconnected together. The further down they went, the further away they got from natural light, the more the very flesh of the Yul'ocmea began to glow.

Freckles of glowing light began to appear over their bodies, mimicking spiraling galaxies and bursting stars. Pidge stared at the arm of Yu'tey, distracted by the way her own skin behaved like the very sky.

"You are impressed, Pidge Holt of Earth."

Pidge blinked, momentarily caught off guard just to see Yu'tey's eyes blink back in the direction of the path ahead, amused. Pidge's cheeks burned pink for a moment.

"I think it's safe to say we all are," Allura responded for her and it was true. One quick glance to Lance and Hunk and Pidge spotted a familiar look of awe and reverence over their expressions.

"I gotta say," Lance piped up. "This is something I'll never get used to."

"Nor would I want to," Hunk added, though his eyes immediately fell from the hundreds of light chambers all over the walls to just ahead of them. His eyes sparkled with glowing joy and a succulent scent wafted into Pidge's nose just as she recognized the growing look of hunger and delight over Hunk's face. "Especially this part!"

No one held him back as Hunk picked up speed and hurried to the source of the delectable aroma. Pidge's mouth watered. Before the approaching group stood several Yul'ocmea, surrounding what looked like a large floating basket holding a various collection of foods that resembled pastries, baked fruits, and other things that Pidge had no solid description for. Hunk was already approaching at a speed that rivaled the Red Lion.

"K'ul!" Hunk exclaimed happily and Pidge's stomach leaped to her chest in a brief bout of concern he may be too pushy. The Yul'ocmea all replied with immediate appreciation, sharing similar laughing noises.

"Lucky for us they find Hunk's exuberance amusing,” Lance snorted as he jogged up to catch up. Allura sighed good-naturedly, following with wide strides.

Pidge made to follow quickly behind but she stopped when she realized Coran had not followed suit. He kept his original pace with his hands held behind his back.

”Pidge,” Coran said as soon as she was nearby. “We’re going to need to discuss the next stage of our... situation.”

Pidge struggled to keep her expression from souring. Through the strange bond they all now shared, Pidge realized then that Coran was keeping his emotions and even thoughts carefully devoid of anything incriminating. That’s good at least. She could do without the curious glances becoming suspicious at any point.

”How do you expect to do that?”

Coran gave her confident grin, “There are chambers here that are constructed specifically for visitors who wish more privacy from the bond to the planet and its inhabitants. While I’m sure it may be odd to ask, I doubt we’ll be questioned much if we inquire about them.”

”That’s not what I was asking,” Pidge grumbled. “At this rate, and with Keith’s abrupt comment from earlier, the others already suspect something weird is going on.”

”Actually, I think this is a spectacular development!”

Pidge glared at him. “...Why?”

”The others believe you and Keith are hiding an illicit relationship filled with romantic excursions! We can use that as a smokescreen to hide our tracks from the time being until we return to the Castle.”

There was probably a moment that after Coran said this, Pidge genuinely perished and had moved on to a different realm only to be thrown back into her body for reasons beyond her. Upon her return to her mortal body, Pidge shot a quick look over her shoulder. Keith was walking closely to her, but for a blissful moment, appeared focused on the splendor of their surroundings.

She looked away before he could catch her watching.

”Coran... please... please tell me you’re joking...” Pidge felt sick. It was one thing to pretend everything was fine. It was a complete different thing to outright lie about a romantic relationship and make everyone believe they had anything remotely connected to a physical attraction. Not that Keith wasn’t attractive. Pidge would be blind to believe he didn’t have a sharp beauty to his features and a handsome edge to his voice and attitude. In any other reality, if Keith were less... well... Keith, perhaps the attraction would delve a little differently...

Okay, it’s not like she hasn’t thought about it. It’s definitely come up late at night. What would being with Keith would be like and all... but this? To actually go as far as fake a relationship? She already managed to get him to stop kissing her (thank God), now this??

”I am sorry, Pidge,” Coran said. At the very least he did look apologetic. “But this is our best shot to avoid any more suspicion. Just... pretend the two of you are together! Then if you’re able to figure out a way to shock him back to normal, you can hatch a big drama about—what was it you earthlings call it...? Oh—breaking the up!”

“You made it sound better when it’s not better at all!” Pidge hissed.

”It’s the best shot we’ve got—K’ul!” Coran said before exclaiming warmly. Pidge slowed down to watch him finish approaching the others and she sighed.

As much as she hated it—and she really, really, hated it—he had a point. She hated it when he had a point.

”Hey, Keith,” Pidge said. She felt his presence right at her side.

”What’s up, Pigeon?”

Pidge stifled the urge to turn around and smack him. She dragged a hand down her face quickly before sucking in a slow breath.

Suddenly, she extended her hand out, trying to keep an embarrassed blush from her face. She couldn’t afford to look at him now.

”Uh... are you offering something pervy...? Not that I’d say no, but we’re in public.”

Pidge whirled around, eyes wide and outraged, “In what universe do you think I would ever offer anything—?!”

Keith was smirking down at her. He then glanced down pointedly, and Pidge realized that due to her height and her current trajectory in regards to the position of her hand—oh no.

Pidge retracted her hand as if the very air around his body burned her. The heat of humiliation spread and a swift glance to the others was the only balm in the desert that no one else had noticed Pidge’s slight miscalculation.

”I wasn’t doing that!” Pidge snapped. “I was only asking you to give me your hand!”

”Oh.”

”Don’t look disappointed, you idiot.”

Keith arched a brow, “Well, okay, here’s my hand.”

Pidge’s frown deepened when he extended his left hand. Not at all the hand she was reaching for.

”The other one.”

Keith did as told. Pidge bit down on her cheek and rubbed her sweaty palms on her shorts before roughly taking hold of his hand with her left.

Keith stared at her for a moment, glancing down at their joined hands before looking back at her, “Pidge?”

”I’m holding your hand,” she said loftily. “Don’t read too much into it.”

”You’re squeezing my fingers.”

Pidge almost dropped his hand and threw the whole idea out the window before he grinned and wriggled his fingers between hers. The entire action sent a new flush of heat through her body.

”You gotta hold on like this,” he said, like he was being helpful. Pidge groaned and looked back at the others. Coran seemed to be the only one paying attention. He threw her a quick thumbs up and a wink before looking away.

”Come on,” Pidge said before giving him a tug.

”Wait, you’re not gonna hit me?” Keith suddenly asked. Pidge rolled her eyes. “Or throw me off... nothing?”

Pidge shot him a look, “No.”

Keith blinked at her, dumbfounded. “Seriously?”

Pidge sighed again, “Ugh, do you want me to?”

”No,” he said quickly. “I just wasn’t expecting this.”

”Well, I’ll let go if this is too much for you—“

and suddenly Keith was waaaaay too much in her bubble. His eyes looked at her lovingly, his overall aura brightened with incredible joy. It was almost physically difficult to look at him directly.

”Does this mean you’ve finally realized my feelings for you are real and you’ve decided to return them?”

”Wha—?”

”Does that mean you finally love me in return?”

”N-no—!”

”But you’re willing to at least try it out right?”

”Keith, this isn’t—“

”You’ve finally taken the initiative and decided to pursue me then,” he said and his expression was so satisfied and made Pidge’s stomach drop. “Well then, I accept! The best part now is to tell the whole world my ultimate declaration, that I belong to no one else but you.”

”Huh?!?”

”I cannot tell you how happy this makes me, Pidge!”

”Whoa, slow down,” Pidge said but Keith was already yanking her down the last few feet to the feast. Pidge was so surprised she could hardly do anything but allow him to take her by storm.  “Keith—!”

”Oh, hey, Keith,” Hunk exclaimed, waving a pastry as they approached. To Pidge’s growing horror, the others immediately turned to look at them. “You should try this... uh...”

“Everyone!” Keith suddenly announced. “Pidge and I have an announcement to make!”

”Huh?” Hunk said.

”Did he say ‘Pidge and I’ just now?” Lance said.

Keith tugged Pidge closer until she was almost flush with his chest.

”We’re together!”

and there was a stunned silence that followed that was so abrupt, Pidge felt her own insides freeze in response.

”Like... together... together?” Lance asked slowly, and there was something pale in his expression that would’ve made Pidge observe curiously if it weren’t for the fact she was possibly dying again.

”As in...?” Hunk added slowly. Allura was also staring in surprise, Coran looked like he was going to lose all color and fade into the earth.

Keith used his other hand to weave around Pidge’s body, and he nodded. “She’s finally my girlfriend!”

There was no perhaps about it this time. Pidge was dead. She was totally completely devoid of life. Struck down and outright murdered. Pidge definitely exited the realm of normal and had been sent immediately to the worst possible reality that could’ve ever come out of all of this.

...Well... I can safely say there’s no going back to normal now.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a small update this time...! I’m sorry this has taken me ages to update! The amount of work I’ve had to do and focus on—not to mention the School Service!! webcomic I’m working on—has kept me busy enough that I haven’t been able to write this like I’d like. I hope you guys are holding on tho, because this story is just starting to get wild.


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